The United States' top intelligence agency, Federal Bureau of
Investigations (FBI) says that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) is the most dangerous and deadly extremist organization in the
world. The official website of FBI in its tops story said that LTTE is
far more dangerous terrorists outfit than al Queda, Hezbullah or even
HAMAS. Read more...

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Saturday, 07 August 2010 09:12 AM

The
Tamil Diaspora is sharply divided over a post-war strategy

LTTE ship, carrying at
least 24 LTTE cadres and hardcore leaders - The
government says the LTTE rump can play a pivotal role in the ongoing
rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement process in the Northern
Region following winning over KP and obtaining his cooperation.
Authoritative sources say one-time LTTE heavyweight KP is now working with
the government to bring relief to the war displaced as well as those
ex-combatants held at rehabilitation facilities. KP twice visited
rehabilitation facilities and there are indications that the government
may take a group of Colombo-based diplomats and defence attaches to meet
those undergoing rehabilitation. Sources said that KP, who had been
responsible for running one of the biggest clandestine arms smuggling
operations against successive Sri Lankan government succeeded Prabhakaran
shortly after the army finished off the LTTE on the banks of the
Nanthikadal lagoon in May last year. Sri Lankan Intelligence Services
apprehended him in the first week of August last year. Government sources
dismissed opposition assertion that giving KP an opportunity to work with
the state machinery in a post-LTTE era posed a threat to national
security. They said that those who genuinely called for reconciliation
should be happy about the new development as there was a great opportunity
for the Tamil Diaspora to get involved in the development process. In an
exclusive interview with this writer last Wednesday, KP at his first meet
with the media since his apprehension by government agents last August,
expressed confidence that the Tamil Diaspora would join government efforts
though many felt that would never be possible. He asserted that the
destruction of the LTTE’s military capability should compel the Diaspora
and the Tamil speaking people to review their approach for their own
benefit. Failure to realize the ground situation and act accordingly would
be catastrophic, he said (Island
: 31 July 2010).

Suicide Bombers of the
LTTE and Posttraumatic Phenomenon - Dr Ruwan M
Jayatunge M.D - Suicide attack is an ancient practice with a modern
history. The Mahabharata an ancient epic describes suicide warfare.
Islamic Order of Assassins (hashashin) during the early Crusader times was
well-known examples. The concept of “terror” as systematic use of
violence to attain political ends was first codified by Maximilien
Robespierre during the French Revolution. Vladimir Illich Ulyanove (Lenin)
used terror against classes, which was later developed by Stalin in a
ruthless form. During the World War 2 the Japanese kamikaze pilots
launched suicide attack against the US forces. In Guerrilla Warfare
authored by Ernesto Che Guevara described suicide attacks as a path to
victory which naturally boosts the morale of other rebels. In the early
years of struggle, Che and Fidel Castro used deadly suicide attacks
against Batista’s regime. Social instability in the North since Nineteen
Seventies provided a fertile ground for terrorist activities. As a small
undercover terrorist group the LTTE transformed into a large group with a
massive financial backing and producing Black Tigers who are motivated
kill and get killed. The LTTE suicide bombing emerged as a politically
based violence. Since July 5, 1987 when the current wave of suicide
bombings began, Sri Lanka had been facing a new threat and it has changed
the dynamics of the Sri Lankan society. The people became more vigilant
and suspicious especially in public places and responded to suicidal
bombings with a collective anxiety (LankaWeb
: 31 July 2010).

Ex- Tigers prefer driving
jobs - A recent survey on ex LTTE combatants had
revealed that most preferred to be drivers when they are integrated into
mainstream society. Rehabilitation Commissioner General Sudantha
Ranasinghe said 941 former combatants had expressed their desire to work
as drivers. He said among the others 20 of them wanted to work as
counsellers, eight as accountants, 51 as hair dressers, two as bakery
operators, 50 as beauticians, 262 as businessmen, 280 as carpenters, 48 as
goldsmiths and 222 as computer programmers. Besides, there are 252 persons
who wanted to join the mainstream and work as tailors and 107 as teachers.
Amazingly, 14 of them had wanted to work as labourers. Brigadier
Ranasinghe said it was important to ensure economic security for these ex
combatants after the rehabilitation process is completed. “If they have
an alterative, they will not engage in any anti-social activity. Today,
along the A9 road, we hardly find garages and bicycle workshops. If these
ex combatants are trained in gaining the necessary vocational skills, they
can start such work for their livelihood. I am asking all those critiques
to assist us to provide the much needed vocational training programmes. It
is the only way out,” he said. Commenting on the hardcore cadres,
Brigadier Ranasinghe said that mentorship counselling was now being
conducted for them. He said most of them are Hindus, and devoted to their
religion, and do not eat fish or meat on Tuesdays and Fridays. “They
strictly follow such religious principles,” Brigadier Ranasinghe said.
Among the ex LTTE members, are those who had done various odd jobs for the
organization. The authorities have identified 157 people who worked as
cooks, 585 as drivers, 122 as motor mechanics, 401 as nurses and 48 as
beauticians. He said about 100 of the former members had been released to
be trained as drivers and conductors in state transport buses operating in
the North (Daily
Mirror : 31 July 2010).

Sri Lanka travel warning
removed by Britain - The British government has
removed a travel warning on Sri Lanka advising against visits to the
former northern war zone, following the withdrawal of previous travel
warnings in the rest of the island. A British Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO) statement said it no longer advised against all travel to the
northern districts of Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaittivu and Vavuniya. The
move comes as tourist arrivals to the island are increasingly following
the end of the 30-year ethnic war in May 2009 and ahead of the peak winter
tourism season. The FCO said visitors must have permission from the Sri
Lankan Ministry of Defence before travelling to the northern districts of
Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mullaittivu and Vavuniya. Although the war
was over, "there is a general threat from terrorism in Sri
Lanka," it said. "Isolated attacks cannot be ruled out and could
be indiscriminate. "Foreign tourists and visitors have not been
targeted in the past but attacks have occurred in places frequented by
foreigners." The FCO also advised tourists to be careful of mines and
unexploded ordnance. "Although the conflict is over, extensive
military operations are still ongoing, clearing minefields, unexploded
ordnance and locating weapon caches," it said. "Do not venture
from the roads or cleared footpaths and if in any doubt, contact the local
security authorities for local advice." The FCO also warned British
nationals to avoid any political gatherings or rally and to beware of
"spontaneous large gatherings" because of potential violence. It
also warned of an increasing number of incidents of credit card fraud,
road accidents and drownings (Island
: 31 July 2010).

Malwatta Prelate tours
Jaffna - Malwatta Mahanayaka Most Ven
Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala Thera was given a rousing reception when he
visited the Naga viharaya. Thousands of people, Army and Police officers
welcomed the Prelate on arrival. A group of Bhikkhus accompanied the
Mahanayaka Thera. The Malwatta Mahanayaka Thera visited the Nallur
Kandasamy Temple, Public Library and Jaffna Fort area. The Prelate also
presented educational equipment to 1,500 students at the Vadamarachi and
Tenamarachi Educational Zones and also conducted religious ceremony at the
Army Officers' quarters. The Mahanayaka Thera's visit was coordinated by
Maj Gen Hathurusinghe (Daily
News : 31 July 2010).

The fate of the Purple
Fury Doctrine after Nick Clegg’s confessions -
By Malinda Senevirathna - There are between 3-4 million Afghan refugees
and British MPs not only ignore this fact, but have the brass to talk
about the less than 100,000 IDPs in Sri Lanka formerly held hostage by the
LTTE (and they are very well looked after, compared to the 22 Muslim IDPs
across the world, most of them US oil-war refugees). There have been over
2.4 post-invasion infant deaths in Afghanistan (90% avoidable) (Daily
Mirror : 31 July 2010).

Surrendered Tiger is not
Prabhakaran's driver, Sri Lanka police says -
Sri Lanka police Saturday denied local media reports that the driver of
the LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran has surrendered to the Trincomalee police.
Police Spokesman SP Prishantha Jayakody has told the government news web
site that the person arrested was an LTTE suspect but not the driver of
the slain Tiger leader. "He is handicapped with one leg amputated. He
is not a driver at all," the police spokesman has said. Trincomalee
Police are continuing further investigations on the arrested LTTE cadre (Colombo
Page ; 31 July 2010).

KP confident despite
differences among Tamil Diaspora over post-war strategy
- At one point Prabhakaran wanted to replace Balasingham The Tamil
Diaspora is sharply divided over a post-war strategy with one influential
section led by the late LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s successor,
T. S. Pathmanathan aka KP exploring the possibility of working with the
Sri Lanka government. Although the progress is slow, both parties are
confident of reaching a workable agreement, which will enable Sri Lanka to
capitalize on her war victory over the LTTE in May last year. In line with
controversial political and military strategy, the government has paved
the way for KP to join the rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement
process. Recently KP was given an opportunity to meet some of the ex-LTTE
combatants undergoing rehabilitation in the Vavuniya region. In an
exclusive interview with The Island last Wednesday, KP said that he was
under intense pressure from those who still believed in an armed struggle
to change his stance on Sri Lanka, thereby making his task difficult. He
asserted that his team was being targeted by hostile elements bent on
subverting what he called reconciliation efforts. Of the nine persons who
had recently visited Sri Lanka on a government invitation to take a
firsthand look at the ground situation, one quit due to pressure from
influential elements. "But that would not deter our efforts," KP
said sounding confident that they could build a partnership on a solid
foundation (Lanka
Times).

Majority of Tamil
diaspora backing Sri Lanka Government's efforts

‘KP got funds for investment in North’
- The government yesterday said LTTE’s main
arms procurer Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP who is now under military
custody, had made a contribution in getting money from the Tamil Diaspora
for investment in the war affected areas. Addressing the weekly Cabinet
news conference, Government Spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella
said the government invited the Diaspora to play a role in the economic
development of the North. In this respect, he said, KP had a say as the
person who collected money earlier from the pro-LTTE Diaspora to procure
arms and other war-related material for the organization. “We cannot say
the entire Diaspora is against the government. Certain sections of it
responded to our request positively. Earlier, KP was the main figure in
soliciting money from the Diaspora to be used in replenishing the LTTE’s
arsenal. Now, there is the opportunity to use such money for a worthy
cause. Earlier, those monies were used to buy weapons, war ships and
explosives,” the Minister said. The Minister was responding to a
question by the media in this regard. The media queried how the government
could use a persons accused of terrorist activities for such political
ends. However, the Minister replied that the government weighed the pros
and cons and took decisions in the greater interest of the country. “We
take decisions according to the need of the hour. We do not hesitate to do
it,” he said. He also said the government could use KP as a government
witness in cases involving allegations against human rights abuses. “We
take decisions according to the need of the hour. We do not hesitate to do
it,” he said (Daily
Mirror ; 30 July 2010).

HOW TO STOP THE TAMIL (AND OTHER) BOATS
TO AUSTRALIA - The fact that the Rudd Government
had pandered to the gallery and exacerbated the problem, the tree of
illegal migration has grown an enormous extent, and it continues to spread
its roots too widely like a large octopus spreading its many legs. The
regional solution and the Pacific solution are too difficult to be
adopted, we ask that the boats be safely towed back by the Australian Navy
to their source destinations, so that the boat people will be safely
returned*. Australia must work closely with the source countries. Giving
money to East Timor and Nauru will be like pouring water into an empty
bucket. *in actual fact this solution is the best, more practical, humane
way to treat the asylum seekers and they send a definite, deterring
message to the people smugglers. People smugglers must be sentenced to
lengthy prison sentences and their rickety boats must be burnt down in
front of their own eyes. Again, Australia must act courageously and boldly
to get rid of this dangerous menace. We hope that there will be correct,
bold leadership in Australia to tackle the problem of people smuggling.
What we need is a permanent solution to the problem, not a bandaging the
problem (LankaWeb
: 30 July 2010).

War crimes committed by USA and UK -
By Ben Silva - Wikileaks have clearly indicated the possibility of war
crimes committed by USA and UK. It is now recognized and well known that
the invasion of Iraq was illegal and was carried out under false pretexts.
Over a mullion civilians have been killed unlawfully and illegally in
Iraq. Surely, the priority should be an investigation of the illegal war
rather than the war that defeated the terrorists who killed thousands and
threatened the sovereignty of Sri Lanka. It is time for GOSL to assemble a
team to deal with the external propaganda war. The false accusations
against Iraq sound similar to the accusations against Sri Lanka and gives
the impression of a hidden agenda. If an investigations has be carried
out, then it should be on the war crimes/activities of USA and UK, as they
have killed over a million of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, at times
using remote` weapons, without even giving the victims, even a slight
chance to surrender. If Mr Moon ignores the illegal and imperialist
adventure in Iraq, killing over a million civilians and the war crimes
committed in Afghanistan by USA and UK, then it shows the evil and foolish
nature of Mr Moon. Many have questioned the competency of Mr Moon and some
senior UN officials including Inga-Britt Ahlehius have indicated the lack
of accountability in UN. Mr Moon should withdraw the panel to investigate`
Sri Lanka and if that does not happen then Mr Moon should be removed from
UN for bringing the UN into disrepute. Ban the foolish-man, whose
competency and sanity have been questioned by many, should be removed from
UN, before he destroys UN (LankaWeb
: 30 July 2010).

KP confident
despite differences among Tamil Diaspora over post-war strategy; At one
point Prabhakaran wanted to replace Balasingham - The
Tamil Diaspora is sharply divided over a post-war strategy with one
influential section led by the late LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s
successor, T. S. Pathmanathan aka KP exploring the possibility of working
with the Sri Lanka government. Although the progress is slow, both parties
are confident of reaching a workable agreement, which will enable Sri
Lanka to capitalize on her war victory over the LTTE in May last year. In
line with controversial political and military strategy, the government
has paved the way for KP to join the rehabilitation, reconstruction and
resettlement process. Recently KP was given an opportunity to meet some of
the ex-LTTE combatants undergoing rehabilitation in the Vavuniya region.
In an exclusive interview with The Island last Wednesday, KP said that he
was under intense pressure from those who still believed in an armed
struggle to change his stance on Sri Lanka, thereby making his task
difficult. He asserted that his team was being targeted by hostile
elements bent on subverting what he called reconciliation efforts. Of the
nine persons who had recently visited Sri Lanka on a government invitation
to take a firsthand look at the ground situation, one quit due to pressure
from influential elements. "But that would not deter our
efforts," KP said sounding confident that they could build a
partnership on a solid foundation. While KP remained in Colombo, his team
continued to work abroad under the guidance of Paris-based Velummailum
Manoharan, formerly of the LTTE International Secretariat. Sri Lankan
agents apprehended KP last August in an operation carried out in a foreign
country and brought him to Colombo. The operation was mounted close on the
heels of the final battle on the Vanni (east) front, where the Army wiped
out the last organized resistance, killing KP’s predecessor, Prabhakaran
Excerpts of the interview: (Island
; 30 July 2010).

Majority of Tamil diaspora backing
government's efforts: Sri Lanka - The Sri Lanka
government maintains that the Tamil diaspora is now divided into two
groups and the majority is supporting its efforts towards improvement of
the living standards of Tamils in the northern and eastern provinces.
Government spokesman and Media and Information Minister Keheliya
Rambukwella told a news conference here on Thursday that the group
representing the Tamil diaspora, which was forced to fund the militant
activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was now willing to
contribute to the welfare of the war-displaced civilians. The Minister was
referring to an interview given to a local daily by Kumaran Pathmanathan
alias KP, who succeeded V. Prabakaran as LTTE chief until he was taken
into custody by the Sri Lankan security agencies in August last year. Mr.
Rambukwella said KP, who was responsible for raising funds for purchase of
military materials for the terrorist outfit, too had realised the past
follies and joined the group which was willing to help in development
activities. Under the existing laws, the government could enlist any
person as a “crown witness” in the interest of the country and give
him protection, the Minister said. In an exclusive interview with The
Island newspaper, KP answered questions on a wide range of issues,
including his capture, breakdown of the various attempts to negotiate
peace and a desperate bid to thwart annihilation of the LTTE's military
leadership in May 2009. He was confident that a group of like-minded
Tamils based in various parts of the world would support the initiative
for the benefit of Sri Lankan Tamils, and said President Mahinda Rajapaksa
was genuine in his efforts at resolving differences among communities and
helping to re-build the war devastated regions. “Within a year of the
conclusion of the war, the majority of the people displaced by the
conflict are back in their villages and ex-combatants of the LTTE are
undergoing rehabilitation and the international community, too, is
supportive of Sri Lanka's efforts. None of these would have been possible
without the political leadership given by President Rajapaksa,” he told
the paper (Hindu
; 30 July 2010).

Jaffna
gets four factories MAS, Omega Lines, Orix and Timex

Robert Blake is busy
undermining Kyrgyztan - by Ajit Randeniya - It
is for very good reasons that Robert Blake who ‘underachieved’ in
terms of neocon expectations in Sri Lanka was quickly appointed Assistant
Secretary in the US State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian
Affairs: the region involving Afghanistan and Central Asia that is crucial
to the illegal war in Afghanistan needed a trusted neocon operator and
there aren’t many left these days at the State Department. They found
their man in Robert Blake. The major handicap for the neocon operations in
Afghanistan is the problem of a safe route for supplies to the troops
pillaging the villages of this long suffering country: the route through
Pakistan is notoriously unsafe due to attacks by tribal supporters of the
Taliban, and the preferred way is through the Central Asian state of
Kyrgyztan. The retired war criminal Douglas Rumsfeld had negotiated a
corrupt deal with the former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to rent
the Manas air base for this purpose (LankaWeb
: 29 July 2010).

Foreign mediated efforts
won’t bring reconciliation : KP - The late
LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s successor, T. S. Pathmanathan aka
KP says Sri Lanka should strive to deal with domestic issues on its own
without involving external elements. Former head of LTTE procurement
section, the soft-spoken, KP points out that all previous attempts by
foreign governments to address Sri Lanka’s problems failed. In an
exclusive with The Island, in Colombo on Wednesday, Prabhakaran’s
one-time confidant recalling how their attempt to negotiate a settlement
with the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa (May 1987-June 1990) had
failed, revealed that he along with the then international face of the
LTTE Anton Balasingham and Mannikkasothi had initiated a move that led to
a secret meeting with the then UNP stalwart A. C. S. Hameed in Bangkok.
"We had the opportunity to meet President Premadasa at Sucharitha for
discussions on few occasions." The LTTE resumed hostilities in the
second week of June 1990. In some of the bloodiest fighting in the eelam
war, the LTTE had the wherewithal to force the army to vacate its bases in
the Vanni. Excerpts of the interview: (Island
: 29 July 2010).

Ban ki-Moon: Keep your
hands off Sri Lanka - by Asoka Weerasinghe,
Canada - Ban, Ban the Korean-man/ who has made the UN irrelevant/ when
Inga-Britt Ahlehius basted you off/ you landed your butt on her cushioned
dais.Hey! Ban, you are slowly getting fried on the 38th floor. With the
WikiLeak files today, your job is cut out to show that you are capable of
doing the job that you were appointed to do. Well…appoint a three-person
expert-panel to probe into the Afghanistan war crimes by the British and
the US. Well…what the heck are you waiting for? Are you scared of these
big boys and reluctant to show your muscle as you have done with puny Sri
Lanka? It is not a case of you having fun at the top and calling on –
Boys and girls come out to play/ I have a gorgeous partner in Navi Pillay/
This Tigress has been wanting to slay/ the Sri Lankans for killing her
tribe/ the terrorist Tamil Tigers. Ban, ask her to pull her knickers up
and agitate to have an expert-panel appointed to look into the War Crimes
of the UK and US led armed forces as the Wikileaks calls for just that,
just not being a bully going after Sri Lanka that little nation that did a
favour to the whole civilized world by eliminating the most ruthless
terrorist group, the Tamil Tigers. Ban, you got caught with your pants
down at play in the sand-box with Navi Pillay, when you claimed that your
expert-panel to probe Sri Lanka’s war crimes was independent and yet
handpicked Richard Bennett as the head of the staff for this panel, who
was the trusted lieutenant of your squeeze Navi Pillay who was the
Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal until
recently. Well….well…well…you have just proved once again that you
are just Ban, Ban the foolish-man (LankaWeb
: 29 July 2010).

Open Letter to Leaders of
Political Parties in Australia - By Asoka
Subhawickrama, Sydney, Australia - Dear Leader, I am one of the
estimated 150,000 Sri Lankan Australians who will exercise their votes at
the forthcoming Federal election. While, as true blue Australians, we are
extremely concerned about the major issues that affect our nation as a
whole, honestly, I cannot see much difference when it comes to the policy
declarations (sans all the hype) on the major issues by the two main
parties. Therefore, please let me deal with issues that will ultimately
and most certainly decide my valuable vote. Let me be fair dinkum:
like most non-Anglo Saxon migrants, particularly those from the
subcontinent, majority of us, not all, generally happened to vote for the
ALP. Some of us may have sometimes voted for the Greens, and a mere few
for the Liberal Coalition, but the vast majority of us traditionally voted
for the ALP. However, in recent times, there has been a marked shift
to the Liberal Coalition, not because these voters prefer a conservative
party with a colonial mentality, but because of the ALP’s and Greens’
uninformed, misguided and irresponsible utterances in support of the Sri
Lankan Tamil Tigers. In contrast, the Coalition at least kept mum about
the Tiger terrorists, not the ideal, though, as if they didn’t exist.
The Coalition just don’t care. The 30 year war in Sri Lanka is
over. All Sri Lankans, and mostly Tamils, suffered terribly over those
three decades. One of the main reasons for the prolonged war was the
support the Tigers had from the elements in the Tamil Diaspora. They
collected funds from the public in the Western counties where they were
domiciled on false pretences, coerced reluctant Tamils to make regular
payments, carried out propaganda, and lobbied politicians, church leaders
and human rights activists, all in support of the Tiger’s war effort.
Had it not been for this strategically planned and executed propaganda cum
funding by the activists by the Tamil Diaspora the war would not have
lasted this long, not so many lives lost, the economy would not have been
devastated to this extent and, most of all, there would have been far less
suffering on the part of the Tamil people who were trapped in the war zone
(Sri Lanka
News Online ; 28 July 2010).

KP speaks out -
In an exclusive interview with The Island in Colombo yesterday,
Pathmanathan, former confidant of the slain LTTE leader Velupillai
Prabhakaran and the outfit’s main arms procurer, discussed a wide range
of issues, including his capture in Kuala Lumpur last August, breakdown of
various attempts to negotiate peace and a desperate bid to thwart
annihilation of the LTTE‘s military leadership in May 2009. Pathmanathan,
in a light brown kurta, black slacks and matching shoes could have easily
walked the streets of the city without being identified as one of the key
LTTE leaders, who had helped build the organisation as a ruthlessly
efficient terrorist group over the past three decades. He sat on a couch
asking the writer to fire away in what turned out to be a three-hour
interview in which he spelt out his plans in support of on-going
rebuilding efforts of the government. The onetime most elusive man from
Jaffna said he was confident that a group of likeminded Tamils based in
various parts of the world would support the initiative for the benefit of
Sri Lankan Tamils. Fielding questions with a smile, KP said what he
expected of the Tamil Diaspora and what the Diaspora expected of him was
to step up the rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement programmes
now underway. Born on April 6, 1955, KP had played different roles before
succeeding Velupillai Prabhakaran after the latter’s death at the hands
of the Sri Lanka Army on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon in May last
year. Excerpts of the interview: (Island
: 29 July 2010).

Resistance to Ban Ki-moon
- In his article in The Island of July 26,
Sumanasiri Liyanage dealt with critical comments on Minister Weerawansa’s
fast-unto-death campaign. I myself wrote an article part of which dealt
with that campaign in The Sunday Island of July 25. I wish therefore to
make some clarifications that seem to me to be of crucial importance.
Liyanage holds that the term "international community" is a
misnomer because it in fact designates only a segment of it, namely the
Western capitalist powers. It is certainly true that that term is often
used to designate the more powerful countries of the world, not just the
western capitalist powers. But, that does not preclude its legitimate use
to designate the totality of the membership of the UN. They certainly
constitute an international community by accepting the principles and
policies enunciated in the UN Charter, in the Declarations on Human
Rights, and by entering into Covenants on Human Rights. Particularly
germane to the Weerawansa case is the fact that they constitute an
international community also by subscribing to the Vienna conventions on
diplomatic practice of 1960 (Island
: 28 July 2010).

US war crimes -
The latest revelation of over 90,000 classified documents on the US war in
Afghanistan is said to be the biggest US military secret leak in its
history. Yesterday a White House spokesman in his daily media briefing
commented on the leak being illegal. Interestingly, there was no comment
on the allegations based on these documents and, as one can understand,
for obvious reasons. The main concern of the White House and the Pentagon
is the potential harm the leak might cause to the lives of the soldiers on
the ground. Among other things, there are quite a few accusations that
should interest UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who has recently
appointed a war crime investigation panel with regard to our military’s
conduct during the last phase of the war against the LTTE terrorists. The
first is that the civilian deaths at the hands of the US led troops are
vastly underreported. Secondly, there is information about a special
military unit tasked with capturing and killing top Taliban leaders
without trial. What is more, according to the whistleblower website, the
latter and some other incidents are tantamount to war crimes, including a
famous incident which involved killing seven children when the target was
not even there in the vicinity (Island
: 28 July 2010).

Massive anti-Dengue drive
in North - The Northern Province has accelerated
the dengue mosquito eradicating campaign in the entire north. Around 98
confirmed dengue cases were reported from the Northern Province in July.
Northern Province Governor Major General G.A. Chandrasiri said on the
request of the Government, a dengue mosquito eradicating campaign is being
considered. “A four day dengue eradicating campaign will be carried out
in all five districts in the Northern Province”, he added. He said
the campaign will be conducted tomorrow and day after tomorrow as well as
on August 2 and 9. A committee meeting was held with the Government
Agent, District Secretariats, G.S and Provincial Council members in the
entire Northern Province. Governor Chandrasiri told the Daily News
that the NPC will start cleaning up schools, government institutions,
houses, commercial establishments, drainage system etc. People from all
sectors will participate during the dengue mosquito eradicating
program. The NPC has taken steps to provide all the needs and
resources for this purpose, he added. He noted that nearly 98
confirmed dengue patients were reported in the entire Northern Province in
July. However, no death was reported due to dengue fever (Daily
News ; 28 July 2010).

NGOs can contribute to
resettlement drive - Defence Spokesman - Mass
Media and Communication Minister and Defence Spokesman Keheliya
Rambukkwella yesterday stated that any public representative and Non
Government Organization can visit the North and East and contribute to its
ongoing resettlement drive and the development process. The Minister
addressing the media at the Media Center for National Security stated that
the NGOs that wish to contribute in the development process and the
resettlement process could go there but not those with ulterior motives
that make statements harmful to the interests of the country. There
are packages introduced at the Resettlement Ministry to support the
development process in the North and East and any NGO could select any of
them and visit the area to expedite the process. He further stated
that there were restrictions imposed by the Government earlier in visiting
these areas as many of the NGOs and persons were pessimistic and their
objective was to make destructive comments on the Government’s process
and create chaos. Referring to the allegations by the JVP who said
the Government was not conducting the resettlement drive of the IDPs in
North and East properly Minister Rambukwella stated that as a government
they were happy with the progress of the resettlement process (Daily
News : 28 July 2010).

Hardcore
Tigers among detainees identified, legal action awaited -
The police and security forces have so far identified 737 hardcore
terrorists among 11,686 LTTE cadres who surrendered. They are being held
separately from others undergoing rehabilitation at different
government-run centres. A senior military official said on Monday (July
26) that those involved in major terrorist attacks would have to be
legally dealt with. He said hardcore terrorists could not be released
along with ordinary LTTE combatants, as they could pose a security threat.
Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe, Commissioner General of Rehabilitation said
that the 737 ex-LTTE personnel were among 7,948 persons held by
authorities. He said that they were all men. Asked by The Island whether
among the detained terrorists were Yogiratnam Yogi, one-time LTTE
negotiator and Balakumaran of the EROS, who threw his weight behind
Velupillai Prabhakaran, Brig. Ranasinghe said that he did not have them.
After the conclusion of the war in May last year, the military with the
support of the police questioned surrendered LTTE cadres to establish
their involvement in terrorist operations. Senior police officials said
that they had an opportunity to use LTTE informants to identify hardcore
terrorists taking cover among civilians. They said that terrorists had
fled their frontline positions as the army advanced into their territory
and sought refuge in the government-held area. They said a sizeable group
among them had voluntarily accepted their involvement, while others made
an attempt to secure IDP status. Rehabilitation and Law Reforms Minister
Dew Gunasekera told The Island that there were two categories of LTTE
cadres in government custody. He said: "There are about 600 to 700
men and women arrested over a period of time by successive governments.
Among them are persons held in connection with high profile assassination
bids targeting VIPs. The second category comprises those, who were taken
in during the final phase of Eelam war IV." (Island
: 27 July 2010).

Eelam war IV: Tiger
captives down to 7,900, rehab programme on track -
Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe, Commissioner General of Rehabilitation says
LTTE cadres are being gradually released from government centres following
rehabilitation in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Brig. Ranasinghe,
who succeeded Major General Daya Ratnayake, says their work is on track
thereby allowing small groups of LTTE cadres to rejoin their families
every month. In a brief interview with The Island, Brig. Ranasinghe said
that 7,948 ex-combatants, including about 1,100 females were still
undergoing rehabilitation. According to him, of the 1,100 females, about
700 are now working in the garment trade. About 400 are being trained as
Montessori teachers (120). Others are learning English (100), IT (60) and
drama 'therapy' (60). Brig. Ranasinghe said that garment workers received
Rs 12,000 plus per month along with food, medical facilities and
accommodation. An effort was being made to explore the possibility of
securing the help and expertise of the British Council to teach English.
The Montessori course, he said, would commence in the first week of
August, while the remaining three programmes were already in progress. He
appreciated versatile actress of international repute Anoja Weerasinghe's
support for a drama 'therapy' programme. At the conclusion of the war in
May last year, military-run detention facilities held 11,686 LTTE cadres,
including members of the suicide squad and elite fighting formations such
as the Charles Anthony 'Brigade' (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 27 July 2010).

Training Tamil students
as future leaders - After spearheading the
military operation to annihilate the LTTE, the Sri Lanka Army launched a
campaign to mould the students to become future leaders of Sri Lanka. The
first of its kind - a Workshop on Leadership - was held in Batticoloa for
151 students in the district at the Batticaloa AGs Auditorium last week.
The topics of the workshop and the close rapport with Army personnel have
made them understand that the true image of the soldier is different from
what the defunct LTTE had painted in their minds.Organised by the 234
Brigade under the guidance of 23 Division commander Brig. Boniface Perera
the 151 senior school prefects were given lectures on leadership
qualities, type of leaders and team work. The Tamil and Muslim students
had the opportunity for a close rapport with soldiers at the workshop.
" We all want to become good youth in future. This workshop helped me
and my friends immensely. We did not know much about the world leaders. We
were not guided to brush up our leadership talents. We thank the Army for
organizing this workshop", student N. Vinitha wrote in her assessment
paper. Brigadier Mahinda Mudalige, 234 Brigade Commander said the workshop
helped tap the inborn talents of the young students who had never been
exposed to programs on leadership (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 27 July 2010).

Panel
pressure - MORE than 14 months after the
military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by the Sri
Lankan security forces and the death of its chief, Velupillai Prabakaran,
reported on May 18, 2009, the Mahinda Rajapaksa government is engaged in a
bitter war of words with the international community in general and the
West in particular over perceived and real humanitarian issues. The
political drama played out outside the United Nations' office in Colombo
from July 6 to 10 brought to the fore all the elements of the unending
feud. Coming close on the heels of the decision of the European Union (E.U.)
to discontinue, from August 15, tariff concessions to the garment and
apparel industry (known as generalised system of preferences +, or GSP+)
to the tune of $150 million per annum and the announcement by the Barack
Obama administration of a review of trade tariff concessions (linked to
workers' rights), the U.N. episode showed the complete isolation of the
government not just from the Western bloc but also from the larger world
community. The Sri Lankan government may have a point in its criticism
that the West is applying double standards on the human rights issue, but
its failure to secure the support of the countries in the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) in its confrontation with the U.N. demonstrates the stark
reality (Frontline
: Volume 27 - Issue 16 :: Jul. 31-Aug. 13, 2010).

Clearing operations
recover more military Items - Sri Lankan troops
of 21 Division continuing the clearing operations general area Maradamadu
in Vavuniya District recovered 17 mobile phones, 14 SIM cards, 30 mobile
phone batteries, one multi plug, 21 mobile phone chargers and one mobile
phone ear phone yesterday (26 July 2010). Meanwhile the troops of 56
Division operating in general area Vellankulam and Omanthai recovered a
part of fotosniper, one fotosniper camera, 05 x 60mm mortar bombs and one
air shell. Separately troops of 61 Division recovered 07 x AP mines in
general area Madhu, 05 x AP mines and 05 AP mines fuses in general area
Palampiddi and another 36 x AP mines in general area Iluppaikulam
yesterday. Area HQ troops in Mannar uncovered 20 AP mines in general area
Kollankulam and Narikkulam on 26th July. Meanwhile the troops of Task
Force 2 engaging the clearing operations in general area Puthukkudiyiruppu
West recovered the following military items yesterday (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 27 July 2010).

Leaked U.S.
Afghan papers show "war crimes"-- website -
Thousands of leaked U.S. military papers from Afghanistan contain evidence
of possible war crimes that must be urgently investigated, the founder of
the whistle-blowing website that published the papers said. Julian Assange,
who set up Wikileaks to expose perceived unethical behaviour by government
and business, accused U.S. forces of covering up civilian deaths and said
sections of the vast collection of secret papers supported such
accusations. His website has published 76,000 military reports covering
the Afghan conflict between 2004 and 2010, and has promised to release
thousands more in the coming weeks (Yahoo
News: 27 July 2010).

Apparel industry
initiative: Jaffna gets four factories MAS, Omega Lines, Orix and Timex
keen: Apparel industry in Jaffna Four leading
apparel industries to set up factories - Over US$ 12 million investment
with over 4,000 jobs - High availability for human resources in North -
BOI offers attractive incentives - The Traditional Industries and Small
Enterprise Development Ministry together with the Board of Investment (BOI)
is planning to support four major companies - MAS Holdings, Omega Lines,
Orix and Timex to set up factories in Jaffna. The discussions between the
Ministry and the BOI had with these companies were successful. The
investors are keen on setting up factories in the Achchuveli Industrial
Estate. These four companies will be offered 25 acres to setup their
factories, Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development
Ministry Secretary P. Sivagnanasothy told Daily News Business. He said
this is the first time that major corporates are entering into the Jaffna
peninsula. This project will bring around US$ 12 million investments while
all four companies will generate over 4,000 jobs for youth in the Northern
province. The Achchuveli Industrial Estate has 65 acres. These companies
will be given 25 acres to set up their factories while the balance 40
acres will be given to set up small and medium industries. The implication
of offering the 40 acres of land in the industrial estate to the small and
medium industries granted the approval by the Planning Ministry. We seek
for external resources to fund the small and medium industries, he said (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 27 July 2010).

Wikileaks publishes US
war crimes in Afghanistan - A whistleblower
website wikileaks has published what it says are more than 90,000 of
secret American military files about the war in Afghanistan which include
details of 144 incidents in which Coalition forces have killed
civilians. The White House has attacked online whistleblowing site
Wikileaks after it published some 200,000 pages of secret American
military files about the war in Afghanistan. The files, published
online by The Guardian, the New York Times and Germany’s Der Spiegel,
include details of 144 incidents in which Coalition forces have killed
civilians. The Guardian says the leaks show that troops killed
hundreds of civilians in previously unreported incidents. In one
example cited by the British paper, French troops fired at a bus full of
children, injuring eight. A USpatrol was involved in a similar
incident that wounded or killed 15 passengers, and in 2007 Polish troops
fired mortars at a village, apparently in a revenge attack, killing guests
at a wedding party which included a pregnant woman. According to the
New York Times they also “suggest that Pakistan, an ostensible ally of
the United States, allows representatives of its spy service to meet
directly with the Taliban.” Describing the talks as “secret
strategy sessions,” the newspaper said they “organise networks of
militant groups that fight against American soldiers in Afghanistan, and
even hatch plots to assassinate Afghan leaders.” The Guardian says
the files revealed a secret black-ops unit which hunts down Taliban
leaders for “kill or capture” without trial; how the US covered up
evidence of surface-to-air missiles acquired by the Taliban; and how the
Taliban have caused growing carnage with their roadside bombing campaign,
killing more than 2,000 civilians to date (Ada
Derana ; 26 July 2010).(Visit
Wikileaks)

Eelam war IV: Tiger captives down to 7,900, rehab
programme on track - Brigadier Sudantha
Ranasinghe, Commissioner General of Rehabilitation says LTTE cadres are
being gradually released from government centres following rehabilitation
in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Brig. Ranasinghe, who succeeded
Major General Daya Ratnayake, says their work is on track thereby allowing
small groups of LTTE cadres to rejoin their families every month. In a
brief interview with The Island on Sunday (July 25), Brig. Ranasinghe said
that 7,948 ex-combatants, including about 1,100 females were still
undergoing rehabilitation. According to him, of the 1,100 females, about
700 are now working in the garment trade. About 400 are being trained as
Montessori teachers (120). Others are learning English (100), IT (60) and
drama ‘therapy’ (60). Brig. Ranasinghe said that garment workers
received Rs 12,000 plus per month along with food, medical facilities and
accommodation. An effort was being made to explore the possibility of
securing the help and expertise of the British Council to teach English.
The Montessori course, he said, would commence in the first week of
August, while the remaining three programmes were already in progress. He
appreciated versatile actress of international repute Anoja Weerasinghe’s
support for a drama ‘therapy’ programme. At the conclusion of the war
in May last year, military-run detention facilities held 11,686 LTTE
cadres, including members of the suicide squad and elite fighting
formations such as the Charles Anthony ‘Brigade’ (Island
; 26 July 2010).

Patriotism - By Garvin
Karunaratne, Ph.D. - .... Not so in Sri Lanka, a sad country where the
people stand divided top to bottom on political party lines. In actuality
I am of the opinion that the political party system of democracy was
foisted on us by the British to make our people stand divided for ever.
The GSP plus battle has been totally lost and now a tax is imposed on our
exports- not only on garments but even on porcelaine goods. It is said
that the opposition of the country was instrumental in getting that done
by influencing the EU. That is not all. The Opposition and some Members of
Parliament are supporting the attempts by the International Community to
charge members of the Sri Lanka Administration and the persons in charge
of the armed forces for war crimes. They are actively supporting the
International Community to charge the saviours of the country- the
saviours who saved the country from the jaws of the LTTE. They have
forgotten the fact that the leaders of the country who led the battle
against the LTTE were acting on a mandate from the country obtained at an
election to rid the country of the ruthless LTTE that had wrested almost a
third of the country by the power of the bullet. The people have totally
forgotten that the LTTE was attacking people everywhere- even in the
sacred Sri Maha Bodhi at Anuradhapura the LTTE killed over two hundred
pilgrims who were worshipping and went on the rampage in adjoining
villages upto Wilpattu with a carnage of over five hundred dead. The Sri
Lankan leaders at that time were so scared of the LTTE that they said that
only two hundred died. Sinhala and Tamil people including monks were
killed like flies (LankaWeb
: 26 July 2010).

No politics for KP says
Karuna - Vinayagamoorthy Muralidaran also known
as Karuna Amman – a former LTTE eastern commander and now Deputy
Minister of Resettlement -- spoke to Daily Mirror online about Kumaran
Pathmanathan alias KP and concerns about the resettlement process. Q -
What were the views of the Tamil Diaspora representatives who visited Sri
Lanka on the invitation of the government and on former LTTE chief arms
procurer KP? A - There are many divisions in the Tamil Diaspora with one
segment actively supporting the LTTE, another supporting the Tamil people
and others supporting the Government. We encouraged the Diaspora to help
with development. Before they visited the country and saw things for
themselves they believed the negative propaganda of the LTTE. But now
their attitudes are changing. Only nine people KP invited. A lot of people
other than whom he invited from the Tamil Diaspora visited Sri Lanka and I
have also met some of the delegations. I have explained to them and we are
in constant contact. Some of them initiated hotel projects. I have
stressed to them that we needed job opportunities to the resettled people
in the war affected areas. Not everyone can expect and secure government
jobs. The diaspora should support us in terms of their donations.
Relatives of most of the Vavuniya IDP’s are residing overseas and they
should be able to help their people build houses at a minimum cost of
Rs.500,000 (Daily
Mirror : 26 July 2010).

Priority to renovate
Jaffna Fort - The National Heritage and Cultural
Affairs Ministry has launched a program to preserve the Sri Lankan
heritage of Northern and Eastern Provinces. The Ministry has given
priority to renovate the Jaffna Fort under this Program, National Heritage
and Cultural Affairs Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told the Daily News.
The reconstruction of the Jaffna Fort will be launched with Rs 104.5
million granted by the Netherlands government. The Ministry expects to
launch the construction program under the guidelines of history experts.
The armouries and barracks used by soldiers hundreds of years ago together
with tunnels situated in the Jaffna Fort which were destroyed by terrorist
activities over the past three decades would be reconstructed under this
program, the Minister said. The building known as the Queen's House and
the Roman Catholic church were badly damaged due to the terrorist war. A
canal which was used for the inner security of the Fort and was destroyed
due to terrorist activities will also be rehabilitated. It has been
discovered that this canal is a kilometre in length, forty metres in width
and three metres in depth, Minister Wanniarachchi said.These buildings
will be reconstructed and renovated to recapture their past glory.
Monuments inside and outside the Fort will be preserved and conserved
under this program. It is also planned to remove mud and landmines from
the ancient canal and preserve it (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 26 July 2010).

Northern youth
participate at Sisuderiya program - Around 500
youth from the Northern Province performed cultural events at the National
Youth Services Council in Maharagama Friday morning. Northern Province
Governor Major General G A Chandrasiri said after long practice nearly 500
youths from the Northern Province performed at the Sisuderiya National
Program held at the National Youth Services Council, Maharagama. Among the
participants were schoolchildren from Northern Province, he added. “This
will give an opportunity to the youth to expose their talent and take part
in national events. The program was held to enhance youth’s knowledge
and skills,” Chandrasiri told the Daily News (Daily
News : 26 July 2010).

Army Chief lauds Ranaviru
apparel war heroes - The role of disabled war
heroes at Yakkala Ranaviru Apparels was recognized Friday evening when the
Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya awarded gifts to them
in appreciation of their contribution to Army uniform manufacturing.
Twenty five war heroes who showed exceptional skills in special tailoring,
knitting, sewing, etc were appreciated during this award ceremony. The
Army Commander as the Chief Guest was welcomed by the Sri Lanka Army’s
Adjutant General, Major General E P de Z Abesekera who is also a member of
the Management Board of Ranaviru Apparels. Lieutenant General Jayasuriya
said 60 percent of the annual uniform requirement of the Army, now with a
workforce of about 200,000, is being supplied by war heroes at Yakkala
Ranaviru Apparels. “With the objective of meeting the entire uniform
requirement of the Army through your productions, one more new factory was
bought from Alawwa area around the first quarter of the year. It was the
money earned through your labour, that purchase was made possible. Once
full production process starts off in this new factory, the Army would be
able to save a huge quantum of money that is generally pumped to buy
uniforms from elsewhere, which itself is a victory,” he said (Daily
News : 26 July 2010).

Canada probes LTTE aid
agencies - The LTTE has either infiltrated or
created two dozen front and cover organisations in Canada to support its
terrorism campaign, International Terrorism Expert Prof. Rohan Gunaratne
said in the aftermath of the action taken last week by the Canadian
Revenue Agency to revoke the charitable status of the 'Tamil Refugee Aid
Society'. Gunaratne told the Sunday Observer that the Canadian State
was investigating a number of aid agencies and there could be 'other
arrests' in the near future. The World Tamil Movement, Tamil
Rehabilitation Organisation and Canadian Tamil Congress are among those
under close scrutiny for their involvement in funding the LTTE's terrorist
cause. Investigations on these organisations, some of which have already
been stripped of their 'charity status' are continuing. These
organisations had been exploiting the 'charitable status' to raise
millions of dollars in Canada and channel it to the terror outfit's fat
coffers to buy arms, ammunition and explosives during the conflict.
The ruling on the Tamil Refugee Aid Society came after an engineer from
Toronto, Thiruthanikam Thanigasalam was jailed for 25 years recently in
the United States for attempting to pay US $ 1 million to buy missiles,
launchers and 500 AK-47 assault rifles in August 2006. He has been
identified as the Charity's Toronto office Representative. According
to a statement issued by the Canadian revenue agency, "The Ottawa
Society had provided $713,000 to the Tamil Tigers, whose long revolt
against the Sri Lankan government was crushed last year", the
National Post reported (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 25 July 2010).

Leads on LTTE’s global
ring - Sri Lanka intelligence agencies, with
help from Interpol, have unearthed vital information on the international
network of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). According to
the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry, information gathered from documents in
the possession of an LTTE operative has helped intelligence agencies zero
in on a few key LTTE operatives abroad. The Ministry said the
information related to LTTE activists engaged in human trafficking, arms
smuggling and financial fraud based in East Asia, Western Europe, Canada
and Africa. It said that unless LTTE’s terror network abroad was
broken, there could be no end to terrorist activities in the country and
in the South Asian region and a fresh effort had been launched "to
pin-down most wanted" LTTE terrorists. "The Intel agencies
are optimistic of cooperation by the governments [of countries] in which
the terror suspects are in self-exile," it said.
"Officials are moving ahead with more than just tight scrutiny on
Sivarasa Pirundaban alias Achchudan alias Suresh, Bahitharan alias Bhavi,
Narendran Rathnasabapathi alias Naren, Ganeshruban alias Ruban and
Ponnaiah Anandarajah alias Aiyya alias Rajah and a few more LTTE activists
who are connected to arms procurement, and shipping while posing as
businessmen," the Ministry said. The Ministry said the recent
recovery in Visuamdu of documents and diary notes of Castro — once head
of LTTE’s international wing — had thrown light on the terror outfit’s
overseas operatives and clandestine funding agencies (Island
: 25 July 2010).

Kaiwaikkal - Kakkamunai -
Munaichenai road reconstruction inaugurated in Kinniya -
The reconstruction works of Kaiwaikkal-Kakkamunai-Munaichenai road in
Kinniya DS Division, Trincomalee, was inaugurated on 2oth July under the
patronage of Northern Province road development minister Mr M.S Udumalebbe.
Total cost for the reconstruction of 1.9Km of
Kaiwaikkal-Kakkamunai-Munaichenai road is 86 Million rupees. The project
is funded by the Asian Development Bank and it was implemented by Northern
Province road development ministry. Members of Eastern Provincial Council
Mr. W.G.M. Ariyawathy Kalappathy and Mr. N.G.Hewawitharana and many public
in the area participated at the event (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 25 July 2010).

Lanka against asylum -
The Sri Lankan government has warmed the international community that
granting asylum or refugee status on perceived claims of persecution would
only be a covert encouragement for illegal and irregular migration.
Deputy Minister of External Affairs Gitanjana Gunawardena said that Sri
Lanka, has enhanced surveillance in intercepting illegal trafficking in
the high seas, especially in curtailing trafficking of persons and goods
smuggling by small boats. He told the 17th ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF)
in Hanoi Vietnam that solutions to the illegal and irregular migration
problem should include transparent policies by originating, transit and
receiving countries to discourage illegal migration and irregular movement
of people (Daily
Mirror ; 25 July 2010).

LTTE ship sighted off US
coast - The vessel carrying over 200 illegal
immigrants under the LTTE’s human smuggling network is expected to
arrive at the Canadian shores within the first week of August, Defence
sources said yesterday. The sources said the ship may arrive at
British Columbia (BC) most probably by the first week of August and it is
being monitored via satellite by a number of countries. “There has
been a sighting of the ship near Guatemala last week,” he said.The Globe
and Mail reported on Friday that the US coast guards Pacific division has
confirmed a sighting of the suspected ship MV Sun Sea and they have said
the ship seems to be heading towards BC. The MV Sun Sea which was
earlier known as the Harin Panich 19 a cargo ship used by the LTTE to
smuggle arms, ammunition and explosives from Korea to Sri Lanka during the
conflict was first spotted in the Bay of Thailand in April this year. The
Ship’s captain Vinod, allegedly a hardcore LTTE leader has threatened
the Thai Navy when their patrol craft tried to intercept the unidentified
vessel. Intelligence gathered by the Sri Lankan defence officials at
the time indicated the ship was heading for the Australian shores and a
warning was issued promptly to its counterparts in Australia. The
Aussies heightened their surveillance and put their boarder guards on
alert. Subsequently the International Terrorism Expert Prof. Rohan
Gunaratne said the LTTE crew had shifted their destination to Canada
perhaps due to the lax attitude the authorities adopted when dealing with
the 76 illegal immigrants that came on board Princess Easwary (Ocean
Lady), also an ex-arms ship of the LTTE. Although all the
inhabitants of this voyage were arrested immediately by the Canada Border
Services Agency and held in detention for three months, their applications
are now being processed on a case by case basis. Foreign Ministry
sources said strong LTTE front organisations in Canada were working
tirelessly to get these illegal immigrants which include hardcore LTTE
members, asylum status. A report from the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees early this month highlighted greatly improved security in Sri
Lanka and said that Tamils are no longer automatically eligible for
asylum. It is believed that at least 24 LTTE cadres and hardcore
leaders fleeing Sri Lanka are onboard MV Sun Sea. Canadian Foreign
Affairs spokesperson Ambra Dickie said it is aware of media reports about
the vessel, but was unable to confirm the ship’s current whereabouts,
the Montreal Gazette reported quoting the Sunday Observer exclusive - the
ship was heading for Canada (Sunday
Observer : 25 July 2010).

Help those brave soldiers
- It was exactly 14 months ago when Sri Lanka's
valiant Security Forces eradicated terrorism and liberated thousands of
innocent civilians from the jaws of LTTE terror. These acts of bravery by
the true sons of our soil liberated the country after three decades of
terror. The freedom and peaceful environment we enjoy today had been
made possible due to the laudable efforts of the Security Forces. The
Government had to beat all overwhelming odds to give the fullest support
to the Security Forces. Certain countries, international organisations and
a section of the Tamil Diaspora did everything within their power to exert
pressure on the Government to slow down the victory march of the Security
Forces. With the sagacious political leadership of President Mahinda
Rajapaksa, the Commander-in-Chief of the Security Forces, the brave
soldiers vanquished the LTTE leadership and ushered in peace to the
country. It was a gigantic task to destroy the world's most ruthless
terror outfit. Apart from taking the Tigers lock, stock and barrel in the
Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu jungles and overpowering the terrorists, the
country had to face tremendous international pressure until the end of the
last battle in the Nandikadaal lagoon. Even at present, certain LTTE
sympathisers abroad are making a concerted effort to take the brave
soldiers before an international war crimes tribunal. It is deplorable
that the man who commanded the ground forces overall at one time is now
attempting to take these soldiers before an international war crimes
tribunal. The retired General who marched from grace to disgrace, through
his treacherous acts due to his lust for power, has provided enough and
more ammunition to certain international organisations which are
attempting to take Sri Lanka to task (Sunday
Observer : 25 July 2010).

SLA’s 200,000 men could
face any threat - Army chief - The Sri Lanka
Army (SLA) with over 200,000 men is adequate to defend all threats
including any new terrorism threats, Army Commander Lt. General Jagath
Jayasuriya said. The Army Chief told the Sunday Observer that there
were no fresh moves to increase SLA’s manpower as it already has over
203,000 well-trained soldiers. The SLA’s manpower was increased
manifold during the military operations against the LTTE and new fighting
divisions were established. In the post conflict-era, the SLA is
using its manpower in development activities in the North and the
East. Meanwhile, the temporary military bases occupied by the SLA in
the North were vacated gradually with the resettlement of displaced
civilians. The Army installations set up in public and private buildings
in the North have been handed over to the owners. During the final
stages of the battle against LTTE terrorists, over 290,000 displaced
civilians had sought refuge in welfare centres in Vavuniya. With the
completion of de-mining the number of displaced civilians in welfare
centres reduced to 37,000. “Most of the public and private
properties occupied by the Army have been vacated in the districts of
Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu and Jaffna. Normalcy has been restored in those
areas and displaced civilians are being resettled”, he said stressing
the need for SLA’s presence in those areas to provide security for the
resettled civilians and also to assist development activities in the
North. Construction work on the new military base at Thunukkai has been
completed and permanent bases in Kilinochchi, Iranamadu, Mullaithivu and
Periyamadu are under construction. Lt. Gen. Jayasuriya who opened
the newly constructed 68 Division headquarters at Puthukuduiruppu last
week said the Security Forces headquarters in Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu
would serve as permanent military bases in the North. He said that
the permanent military bases were set up only on State lands and no
private land was acquired (Sunday
Observer : 25 July 2010).

Ban
Ki Moon

Hands off Sri Lanka!

Sri Lankan
expatriates to demonstrate in front of the Geneva UNO head office on 25th
July - Sri Lankan expatriates residing in Italy
and in other European countries have organized a massive demonstration in
front of the Geneva UNO head office fron 2 p.m., on 25th July 2010. The
demonstration is planned to protest the appointment of Ban-Ki-Moon’s so
called expert panel and the withdrawal of the GSP+ tax concession by the
European Parliament. Given below the letter handed over to the European
Parliament Rome Office regarding the “GSP+” concession. Imperative
need for the extension of GSP+ concession to Sri Lanka - We, expatriate
Sri Lankans residing in Italy, are appealing to Your Excellency to restore
the GSP+ duty concession, which the European Union has decided to withdraw
with effect from August 2010. We wish to bring to your attention the
statements made by several Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
urging the EU to extend GSP+ concession to Sri Lanka. German MEP Jo Leinen
has written to the European Commission (EC) asking them to reconsider
their stance on GSP+ and grant Sri Lanka an extension of the trade
concession. Italian MEP Cristiana Muscardini has also expressed a similar
opinion. Vice President of the Committee on Overseas Development of the
European Parliament, Niranjan Deva-Aditya (Nirj Dev) has gone further by
strongly condemning the EU decision (Asian
Tribune ; 24 July 2010).

Leads on
LTTE's global ring - Sri Lanka intelligence
agencies, with help from Interpol, have unearthed vital information on the
international network of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
According to the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry, information gathered from
documents in the possession of an LTTE operative has helped intelligence
agencies zero in on a few key LTTE operatives abroad. The Ministry
said the information related to LTTE activists engaged in human
trafficking, arms smuggling and financial fraud based in East Asia,
Western Europe, Canada and Africa. It said that unless LTTE's terror
network abroad was broken, there could be no end to terrorist activities
in the country and in the South Asian region and a fresh effort had been
launched “to pin-down most wanted” LTTE terrorists. “The Intel
agencies are optimistic of cooperation by the governments [of countries]
in which the terror suspects are in self-exile,” it said. “Officials
are moving ahead with more than just tight scrutiny on Sivarasa Pirundaban
alias Achchudan alias Suresh, Bahitharan alias Bhavi, Narendran
Rathnasabapathi alias Naren, Ganeshruban alias Ruban and Ponnaiah
Anandarajah alias Aiyya alias Rajah and a few more LTTE activists who are
connected to arms procurement, and shipping while posing as businessmen,”
the Ministry said. The Ministry said the recent recovery in Visuamdu
of documents and diary notes of Castro — once head of LTTE's
international wing — had thrown light on the terror outfit's overseas
operatives and clandestine funding agencies (Hindu
: 23 July 2010).

Moon is sinking into a
black hole - by H. L. D. Mahindapala - New
revelations made by a top UN official about the corrupt practices in the
core administration of the UN confirm that under Ban Ki-Moon the UN is
sliding from bad to worse. According to Under-Secretary-General for
Internal Oversight Services, Inga-Britt Ahlehius, the internal auditor
fighting corruption within the UN, has stated categorically that it is “in
the process of decay”. She emphasized this when she said:: ”I regret
to say that the Secretariat is now in a process of decay. It is not only
falling apart … it is drifting into irrelevance.” Last year Norway’s
then-U.N. Ambassador Mona Juul issued an unusually blistering attack on
Ban last year in which she accused him of weak leadership, lack of
charisma and angry outbursts, in an internal memo leaked to Norwegian news
media, says an AP report. (June 20, 2009). These are damning indictments
of Ban Ki-Moon’s regime at the UN. Ms. Ahlehius’s office was set up in
1994 to investigate, audit and inspect the internal administration to
prevent corruption and abuses within the UN system. Instead of
strengthening her hand to carry out her duties Ban Ki-Moon has obstructed
her work and “have taken other steps, such as trying to set up a
competing investigations unit, that undermined her tenure.” (AP –June
20, 2009). Isn’t Ban Ki-Moon giving the same treatment to Sri Lanka?
First, he entered into an agreement with the President of Sri Lanka to
initiate an inquiry into alleged human rights violations, particularly
during the last months of the Vadukoddai War launched by the Tamil
political class/caste in May, 1976. President Rajapakse honours the
agreement by appointing a Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LankaWeb
: 23 July 2010).

Hunt for
foreign Tigers - The defence ministry says
intelligent agencies together with INTERPOL have launched a coordinated
effort to bust the foreign based LTTE international terror network and
arrest wanted LTTE terror sleuths. According to the defence ministry
intelligent agencies have already unearthed vital information into the
remaining LTTE international terror activists engaged in human
trafficking, arms smuggling and financial frauds bases in East Asia,
Western Europe, Canada and Africa. Defence official are monitoring
the movements Sivarasa Pirundaban alias Achchudan alias Suresh, Bahitharan
alias Bhavi, Narendran Rathnasabapathi alias Naren, Ganeshruban alias
Ruban and Ponnaiah Anandarajah alias Aiyya alias Rajah and a few more LTTE
activists who are connected to arms procurement, transshipping while
poising as businessmen. A recent recovery made by the Sri Lankan
military intelligence at Visuamdu of highly classified documents and diary
notes of Castro, a one time head of the LTTE's international wing has
provided much light into the terror outfit overseas based operatives and
clandestine funding agencies. This includes a number of documents
related to LTTE investments and transactions connected to LTTE shipping
operations and business ventures overseas, the defence ministry
said. Information reveals that Ponniah Anandarajah alias Rajah alias
Ayyah, operated as the head of the LTTE's international procurements while
Anandarajah was reported to be the head of the LTTE's financial,
procurement and shipping network since 2002/03. Born in Jaffna, in
1972 Sivarasa Pirundaban alias Achchudan holds a French passport and is
presently living a low profile life while being actively engaged in the
LTTE's international terror network. The authorities are in the
process of investigating into involvements of his brothers who are
presently residing in Far East and Canada- also engaged in LTTE'
international terror network. Meanwhile, Intel agencies are also in
the verge of arresting Narendran operating from Europe, who is married to
a Russian woman. Bhavidaran and Rooban are two more high profile LTTE
terror activists running LTTE front offices in Indonesia. In
addition authorities are also investigating into millions of LTTE funds
been invested into legal and illegal business ventures based on financial
data recovered from Castro's hideout at Visuamadu. It is expected
that more red notices to be issued and further arrest to be made with the
assistance of Interpol and concerned governments. (Daily
Mirror online : 23 July 2010).

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE
UNITED NATIONS AND SOME 1st WORLD NATIONS… -
by Shyana Mushin - I can’t help but agree with the millions of people
who share the same sentiments as I, whilst adding why have the UN in their
role as peace keepers of the world, not taken steps to halt Israel’s
quest to seize Palestinian land… Why have the UN remained silent for so
long? They allow America to freely arm Israel with nuclear power and the
IAEA makes no mention of ending Israel’s need to disarm; going to the
extent of not even mentioning an inspection of Israel’s nuclear
facilities… Why hurl sanctions on only Iran, and North Korea; and yet
keep silent of the role that America plays with assisting Israel! Why let
the leader’s of several 1st world nations get away scot-free I can’t
help but agree with so many individual comments; whilst re-emphasizing;
why have the UN in their role as peace keepers of the world, not forced
sanctions and a commission to halt Israel’s quest to seize Palestinian
land in the name of peace…? Are not America and Israel equally guilty on
several counts; and yet the UN continues protecting these rouge nations…?
(LankaWeb
: 23 July 2010).

LTTE diaries
may prove foreign link - bunch of yellowing
diaries found in a former Tamil Tiger hideout in northern Sri Lanka could
provide vital clues to Lankan intelligence agencies about the rebels'
existing international and fund raising networks. Sri Lankan army search
teams stumbled upon not only the diaries but scores of abandoned passports
and other documents during a search operation in Viswamadu, which is not
very far from the final theatre of battle in north-eastern Sri Lanka.
According to the defence ministry, the diaries and the documents have so
far yielded vital information about the LTTE's alleged involvement in
human trafficking, arms smuggling and financial dealings in east Asia,
western Europe, Canada and Africa. The documents have also revealed
information about LTTE investments around the world and transactions
connected to the group's shipping operations. The defence ministry claimed
that Lankan intelligence agencies were on the verge of arresting an LTTE
cadre Narendran, a Tamilian married to a Russian, operating from a country
in Europe. The ministry added that they were also tracking two more
people, Bhavidaran and Rooban, who are allegedly running LTTE front
offices in Indonesia. Colombo is also pursuing several governments to
dismantle three broad groups that are now assumed to be controlling the
remaining pro-LTTE international factions: the US group is said to be
headed by V. Rudrakumaran, the UK group by Aruththanthai Emmanuel of the
World Tamil Forum (WTF) and the Norway group by Nediyavan. Recently,
at least eight persons in the Netherlands and five in Germany were
arrested by the respective government agencies on suspicion of having
links with the LTTE. The Sri Lanka government is also using
diplomatic channels to stall pro-LTTE activities and dismantle arms
smuggling network in the African country of Eritrea. In early 2009,
the Tamil Tigers here were ready to receive a consignment of several
dismantled light aircraft to be shipped from the Eritrean coastline. But
before the shipment could be sent, the civil war ended here (Hindustan
Times ; 23 July 2010).

China
facilitates setting up of permanent SF bases in North -
The government is engaged in an ambitious programme to establish permanent
security forces bases in the Northern and Eastern Provinces as part of a
strategy to thwart any possible attempt to revive LTTE terrorism.
Authoritative government officials told The Island that the deployment of
security forces in the Northern and Eastern Provinces as well as other
parts of the country would be solely at the discretion of the military top
brass. In keeping with the government policy, the army has
established the 68 Division headquarters at Sugandirapuram, Puthukudirippu
east of the Kandy-Jaffna A9 road. Army Chief Lt. General Jagath Jayasuriya
on Thursday (22) visited the new headquarters to meet senior officers and
men deployed in the area. Lt. General Jayasuriya told a gathering of men
and officers that permanent bases were necessary to move security forces
from private and public property currently occupied by them. Although the
Jaffna peninsula had remained home to the largest concentration of forces
before the outbreak of Eelam war IV in August 2006, today the single
biggest deployment is in the Vanni. The army chief appreciated the
Chinese assistance to speed up the re-deployment process by making
available what he called pre-fabricated technology. Lt. General Jayasuriya
said: "These types of permanent buildings were made possible due to
pre-fabricated technology from China. The government wants us to vacate
all buildings, belonging to the civil sector, so that owners of those
buildings could reclaim them and help bring normalcy to the area. Civil
life should be restored and facilitated in the area. In the future, once
married quarters of the officers and the other ranks are set up in
respective areas, they would be able to live with their families as well
while serving the areas."
(Island : 23 July 2010).

Intel agencies to bust
International LTTE terror racket; Hunt-on for most wanted LTTE operative
as INTERPOL issues revived RED Notices... - Sri
Lankan Intel agencies have unearthed vital information into remaining LTTE
international terror activists engaged in human trafficking, arms
smuggling and financial frauds bases in East Asia, Western Europe, Canada
and Africa. According to reports, Sri Lankan Intel agencies & the
INTERPOL has joined forces in a coordinated effort to bust the foreign
based LTTE international terror network. The Sri Lankan government has
come to the realization that unless LTTE's foreign based terror network is
nabbed, there can be no end to terrorist activities in the country and in
the South Asian region. For this purpose, Sri Lankan intelligence services
have stepped-up fresh anti-terror operations to pin-down most wanted LTTE
terror sleuths. The Intel agencies are optimistic of cooperation by the
concerned governments in which the terror suspects are identified to be in
self-exile. According to reports, officials are moving ahead more than
just tight scrutiny on Sivarasa Pirundaban alias Achchudan alias Suresh,
Bahitharan alias Bhavi, Narendran Rathnasabapathi alias Naren, Ganeshruban
alias Ruban and Ponnaiah Anandarajah alias Aiyya alias Rajah and a few
more LTTE activists who are connected to arms procurement, transshipping
while poising as businessmen. A recent recovery made by the Sri Lankan
military intelligence at Visuamdu into some highly classified documents
and diary notes of Castro once head of LTTE's international wing has
provided much light into the terror outfit overseas based operatives and
clandestine funding agencies. This includes a number of documents related
to LTTE investments and transactions connected to LTTE shipping operations
and business ventures overseas (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 23 July 2010).

A 'hero' shamed -
The Island Editorial - Close on the heels of his appointment of an expert
panel to advise him on accountability issues relating to violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of
the conflict in Sri Lanka, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has had a
bellyful of lecturing from an outgoing top UN official on transparency and
accountability. Chief anti-corruption official of the UN or the
Undersecretary General for the Office of Internal Oversight Services Inga-Britt
Ahlenius has, in her goodbye missive, torn the UNSG to shreds. A former
Swedish auditor and public servant, Ahlenius pulled no punches when she
told her boss that he was a bureaucratic 'weakling' who had reduced the UN
to a 'sad' and 'perilous' state of 'irrelevance by destroying
accountability in his own house'. Such scathing attacks are not common at
the UN, where people are usually told to go to hell in such a way that
they really look forward to the trip! What is the real cause of outspoken
Ahlenius' choler? She accuses Ki-moon of having striven to undermine
internal oversight which is a sine qua non for good governance. "Your
actions are not only deplorable but seriously reprehensible," she
wrote to him in her 50-page memo, which was also leaked to the press. So,
this is the kind of man who is pontificating to others about the virtues
of accountability! No one else could be better informed of the nether side
of the UN than Ahlenius and it is only natural that the world has taken
very serious note of what she has said of Ban Ki-moon. US lawmakers lost
no time in citing her vivisection as proof that the US taxpayers' money
was being squandered to maintain the UN. Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla
said in a press release, "The stew of corruption, mismanagement and
negligence long plaguing the UN has reached a boiling point." (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 23 July 2010).

OPA expresses 'grave
concern' over UN Advisory Committee - The
Organization of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka (OPA) referring to
the UN Advisory Committee, has expressed its grave concern over and
condemns, the wanton manner in which the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
has been, on his own volition, acting against the sovereign nation of Sri
Lanka. The President of OPA, Prof. A D V de S Indraratna in a letter to
President Mahinda Rajapaksa further states that this action by the
Secretary-General jeopardizes the Reconciliation process in Sri Lanka and
expects the UN Secretary-General to disband the Advisory Committee
appointed by him without creating unnecessary dissention in the world
body. Following is the text of the letter: (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 23 July 2010).

Sri Lankans and
Japanese held a demonstration against UNSG’s decision to appoint
so-called advisory panel on Sri Lanka in front of UN office in Tokyo on
20th July 2010 (Sinhale Hot News:
21 July 2010).

Moon lets the cat out of
the bag - by Ira De Silva, Canada - It is ironic
that Mr. Ban Ki-moon should reveal his hand as you say by appointing
Richard Bennett a protege of the (in)famous Navi Pillay who is a proven
enemy of Sri Lanka and a close ally of the LTTE at the same time that one
of his own bureaucrats, the outgoing head of the Office of Internal
Oversight, Inga-Britt Ahlentius claims that under Ban’s watch
"there is no transparency, there is (a) lack of accountability
(Washington Post July 20,2010). It is claimed that all he is doing is
contributing to the process of decay of the UN. According to Ahlentius,
under Ban’s guidance the UN "is not only falling apart - it is
drifting into irrelevance". All Sri Lanka has heard from Ban Ki-moon
is that he wants transparency and accountability yet he himself is being
accused of not adhering to these qualities which means that he himself
does not believe in them. His double standards are being exposed.
According the the former U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolten writing to
the Washington Times on June 24,2010 "Withholding US Funds would
chasten the Secretary General", in thinking of appointing a panel to
investigate Israel regarding the Gaza blockade, unless he gets UN Security
Council authorization, Ban would be far exceeding his legitimate authority
and be close to making an enormously significant misjudgment about his
role and authority. The same principle would apply to Sri Lanka, but not
in Ban’s way of thinking. Small third world countries are to be dictated
to - so much for Ban’s democracy, equality, impartiality, transparency,
accountability and other virtues being bandied about on a regular basis (Island
: 22 July 2010).

War crimes in Korea: Who
cares? - by Durand Appuhamy - Un Secretary
General Ban Ki- moon appears to have ignored the bloodbath and the
attendant war crimes in his own country from the time of the Korean War
(in 1950) right up to the military dictatorship in the 1980s. The Truth
and Reconciliation Commission of Korea was established in Dec.2005 to
investigate Human Rights abuses alleged to have taken place during and
after the Korean War. The Commission found shocking evidence of
large scale killing of civilians and secretive slaughter of political
detainees by the US allied South Korean military and the police. More than
200 incidents were cited in which US military was alleged to have killed
refugee groups on the pretext that they were infiltrators. Blanket orders
were given to napalm-bomb a cave jammed with refugees in eastern South
Korea and an air attack was carried out on refugees gathered in an open
field in the far south. A few survivors have attested to these massacres.
The Commission recommended the Seoul government to negotiate with the US
for compensation for survivors of what it agreed were indiscriminate
attacks (Island
; 22 July 2010).

Transnational Government
of Tamil Eelam: All clothes and no emperor - by
Prof Sisira PINNAWALA - Continued from yesterday - Selvarasa Pathmanathan,
better known as KP proclaimed himself LTTE leader after Tiger supremo
Prabakaran’s demise. KP chose Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a US based
lawyer who was one time legal adviser to the LTTE negotiating team with
the Government and later its unofficial ideologue after Anton Balasingham’s
death, to explore the ways and means of forming a Transnational Government
of Tamil Eelam. After the extraordinary rendition of Pathmanathan by the
Government the unofficial mantel of leadership of the LTTE and the
responsibility of forming the TGTE fell into the hands of Rudrakumaran. He
authored the initial concept paper for the Provisional Transnational
Government of Tamil Eelam (PGTGE) which was further developed by a 14
member Advisory Committee consisting of representatives of the Diaspora
and some prominent LTTE sympathizers of the International non-governmental
sector that included Karen Parker, Professors Francis Boyle and Peter
Schalk. The Advisory Committee report entitled Formation of a Provisional
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (PGTGE) and detailing its
objectives, form and functions was launched on March 15, 2010
(Daily News : 22 July 2010).

Northern railway
restoration fast-tracked Work to be over before due date:
Work on the Northern railway line from Thandikulam to Kankesanthurai and
the Medawachchiya-Thalaimannar railway line have been expedited on
Transport Minister Kumara Welgama's instruction. India has provided
425 million US Dollars assistance to Sri Lanka for railway projects
expecting speedy reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in the Northern
region. Minister Welgama inspecting the reconstruction of rail track
from Thandikulam to Omanthai recently said the restoration of two railway
lines are expected to be finished by the project's due date. Meanwhile,
the reconstruction of the Omanthai Railway station which came to
standstill for the past few months commenced recently. The Minister who
listened to railway workers' grievances instructed officers to take
immediate action to pay outstanding allowances of employees working on the
Northern railway line extension project. The 159 kilo metres
Northern rail track consists of 85 bridges, 16 stations and 12 sub
stations all of which need to be rebuilt. Many State and private
institutions have come forward to assist the construction of railway
stations in the North. The reconstruction of the
Medawachchiya-Thalaimannar section will be carried out in two stages (Daily
News : 22 July 2010).

Mullaittivu debacle war
heroes immortalized - Valiant War Heroes who
fought till the last during the famous 'Mullaittivu debacle' in the year
1996 when Tiger terrorists overran their camp were immortalized on the
very date of the tragedy by erecting a special war memorial, adjacent to
the 591 Brigade Headquarters in Mullaittivu. This war memorial,
constructed by 9 Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR) troops, was unveiled on
18th July 2010, the day that marked the final fall of the camp into
terrorists' hands some 14 years ago after a siege of two days. 44 officers
and 1119 other ranks, mainly of 5 Brigade, 9 SLSR and 6 Vijayabahu
Infantry Regiment (VIR) lost their lives during fierce gun battles that
lasted for two days. The war monument with all War Heroes' names, built on
the instructions of the Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath
Jayasuriya, was unveiled by Major General Chandana Rajaguru, Commander
Security Forces -Mullaittivu in the company of a large gathering of next
of kin of fallen War Heroes in the debacle. Parents, spouses, children and
next of kin of fallen War Heroes laid floral wreaths, flowers and lit oil
lamps at the foot of the monument soon after a military salute was
accorded. A large gathering of senior officers, Police officers and senior
citizens in the area attended the occasion (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 22 July 2010).

Tamils not discriminated
- The police say the process of the registration
of persons resident in Colombo is being misinterpreted by certain parties
with vested interests attempting to show the entire scheme as a
discriminatory practice confined to Tamil citizens. Police spokesman
Prishantha Jayakody, in a statement, said that the claims are baseless and
furthest from the truth, and meant to convey to the world that the
Security Forces have an ethnic bias and are acting with injustice and
discrimination towards the Tamil community living in Colombo. The
Police says they are acting in accordance with the relevant provisions in
the Police Ordinance under which officers in charge of police stations are
empowered to carry out such registration of persons wherever deemed
necessary to ensure maximum possible social security, accountability and
safety to all citizenry, regardless of any ethnic considerations.
“It is necessary to state that in the Wellawatte Police area that has
been referred to, registration had been done of Tamil people who are a
majority in this are as well as Sinhala and Muslims. The public are
therefore advised to cooperate with law-enforcement authorities and make
the project a success since such registrations are of high importance for
your own security,” police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody said. (Daily
Mirror online : 22 July 2010).

Air Force unearth
explosives, cache of arms - Air Force troops
unearthed over 300kg of high explosives and a cache of arms and ammunition
on information provided by an ex-LTTE cadre in Iranapalai and
Puthukudiyiruppu Monday. Air Force Spokesman Group Captain Janaka
Nanayakkara said following a tip off given by a rehabilitated ex-LTTEer,
the Air Force Intelligence Unit uncovered a haul of arms and ammunition
along with different types of high explosives in the Puthukudiyiruppu
area. He said the Air Force recovered 750 of 32 x 7.62mm ammunition, two
of 120 mm mortar bombs,eight of 81mm mortar smoke bombs, four 81mm mortar
bombs, three of 60mm mortar bombs, five of LTTE made air craft bombs, six
of 40mm RPG bomb, two of hand grenades, two of 120mm mortar fuses, two of
LTTE made 40mm mortars, 50 of pressure switches , 49 of pressure release
and three of instantaneous fuse 70m rolls in the Iranapalai area.
Meanwhile, the Air Force Intelligence Unit unearthed explosives and
ammunition in the Puthukudiyiruppu area. They have uncovered 100kg of C-4
explosives, 90kg of RDX explosives, 25kg of low explosives, 100kg of
propellant tube form explosives, 14 claymore mines, three anti tank mine,
11 of 81 mm mortar smoke bombs, ten of 81mm mortar incendiary bombs, 20 of
81mm mortar trapping bombs, 15 of 40mm RPG bombs, 8,090 of 7.62 x MPMG
ammunition, 1,500 of 7.62 x 212 ammunition, 96 0f 14mm ammunition, two of
LTTE made hand grenade, an LTTE made rocket Bomb, 28 of pressure switches,
29 of pressure release switches and 500g of gun powder (Daily
News : 22 July 2010).

Lanka slams Robert Blake
- The government today slammed US Assistant
Secretary for South Asia and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake stating he
has no right to dictate to Sri Lanka on how democracy must be protected or
make comments on the 17th Amendment as it is entirely a domestic matter of
this country. Cabinet Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told
journalists this afternoon that Mr. Blake who was also the former US
Ambassador to Sri Lanka was purely an outsider who had no right to talk
about the internal matters of the country (Daily
Mirror ; 22 July 2010).

UN lacks transparency or
accountability under Ban Ki Moon - Head UN
internal office United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon seeking a
second term in office has come under heavy criticism by the outgoing Head
of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), Inga-Britt
Ahlenius of Sweden. According to the Washington Post, in her
end-of-assignment report, she states under Ban's watch 'there is no
transparency, there is (a) lack of accountability', and accuses him of
poor leadership. She adds that the world body was "falling
apart" and becoming irrelevant. "I regret to say that the (U.N.)
Secretariat now is in a process of decay. It is not only falling apart ...
It is drifting into irrelevance," she wrote. According to the
Washington Post, Ahlenius further said Ban Ki Moon had undermined the
independence of OIOS, which investigates suspected wrongdoing at the
United Nations, by preventing her from making the U.S. head of the
disbanded U.N. Procurement Task Force head of OIOS investigations. Last
year, Norway 's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Mona Juul criticized Ban as absent,
passive and helpless in an internal memo that was leaked to a Norwegian
newspaper. Others in the UN including the Secretary General's
Chief-of-Staff, Vijay Nambiar, supported Ban Ki Moon and responded to the
Washington Post saying "many pertinent facts were overlooked or
misrepresented" in Ahlenius' report. Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky
said his boss had improved accountability and transparency at the United
Nations as he had promised when he took over from Kofi Annan in January
2007. U.N. diplomats expect Ban to run again next year for a second term
that would begin in January 2012 (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 22 July 2010).

'UN rights panel members
biased against Lanka' - The US Assistant
Secretary of State for South and Central Affairs, Robert Blake, confirmed
on Wednesday, that the Sri Lankan government had shed its total opposition
to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s advisory panel on the human rights
situation in the island nation, and was working out ways of cooperating
with it. The reason for Colombo’s volte face on the issue is that
it has failed to get the support of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in
general, and India in particular. It is reliably learnt that New
Delhi had politely rejected Colombo’s request to intervene on its behalf
among the NAM countries in the UN. Though Blake had sugar coated the
bitter pill by emphasising that the panel’s job was only to “advice”
the UN Secretary General and that its advise was by no means binding on
him, Sri Lankans believe that the three members of the committee are
already biased against Sri Lanka. The Island daily went to the
extent of saying editorially on Thursday ,that the panel might have
already formulated a highly critical report based on acounts given by the
“victim industry and LTTE lobbyists masquerading as human rights
activists.” The paper recalled that Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia
was a part of the controversial International Independent Group of Eminent
Persons (IIGEP) which went into 16 cases of human rights violation in Sri
Lanka a few years ago. The IIGEP had left in a huff without completing its
task, complaining of non-cooperation by the Sri Lankan government.The
second member, Prof.Steven R.Ratner of the US, is seen as a public
advocate of international intervention to save “failed states” (Express
Buzz : 22 July 2010).

An Expert Panel needs to
first investigate effectiveness of UN - By
Shenali Waduge - Sixty years ago, the United Nations was founded to
maintain international peace and security, promote basic human rights, and
protect fundamental freedoms. Sixty years on, its acronym UN
projects negatives and a dismal track record of Unhelpful, Unethical,
Unproductive, Unfair UN policies by its bureaucracy….should world
Governments continue to assume this world body is realistically suited to
secure world peace? A panel must first investigate how far UN and
its associated organizations have been able to deliver on their goals
against the billions that have been and is currently spent on the UN and
its associated entities and deduce whether the UN needs to now close shop
and be replaced with a restructured entity and new personnel. There
may not have been another world war but the UN has not been successful in
stopping many mini wars. Today there are almost 250 armed conflicts taking
place globally. As a body that is meant to project all the good things
that should be happening in the world, the UN has to be devoid of any and
all violations it alleges against countries, leaders or Governments. This
is a natural phenomenon and we are well aware of the adage – practice
what you preach. Nevertheless, it is becoming increasingly clear that this
peace body is not delivering what it is meant to fundamentally deliver
leave aside all of the other non-core related issues it has steadily
included under its wings which invariably has left its concentration away
from more important fundamental areas and instead on complex and
complicated areas which has no coherent conclusions. Top on the list of UN
failures include preventing killings in Liberia in 1997 where 7 years of
civil war killed 200,000 people and Rwanda in 1994 which resulted in
800,000 deaths. UN has also failed to condemn slavery in Sudan, Sierra
Leone, Zimbabwe, Angola, Kashmir, Colombia, Iraq, North Korea and
Afghanistan (Asian
Tribune : 22 July 2010).

Work
on the Northern railway line expedited

Ban lets the big cat out
of the bag - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
has revealed his hand, albeit unwittingly. He has finally dropped the fig
leaf of impartiality. When he appointed an advisory panel on Sri Lanka, he
claimed that it would be independent. But, the UN has officially announced
that the panel is under the umbrella of the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay, whose anti-Sri Lankan
stance is only too well known. She was part of the diplomatic team that
tried to save Prabhakaran trapped in the Vanni and responsible for a human
rights witch hunt against Sri Lanka in Geneva last year. And the person
who has been handpicked as the head of the staff of the expert panel is a
trusted lieutenant of Pillay! Richard Bennett is his name. He had been the
Representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal until
his latest appointment. Now, the UNSG's game plan is patently clear. He
could not have found a more anti-Sri Lankan team for his witch hunt! As we
pointed out the other day, the chairman of Moon's Kangaroo Trial, Marzuki
Darusman was part of the International Independent Group of Eminent
Persons (IIGEP) involved in a presidential commission that probed some
alleged violations of human rights in Sri Lanka. These eminent persons had
a row with the government and left in a huff. Darusman is, therefore,
prejudiced against this country. Steven R. Ratner is of a similar mindset.
He, in a book co-authored with Jason S. Abrams, Accountability for Human
rights: Atrocities in International Law-Beyond the Nuremberg Legacy,
advocates that the ban on apartheid be invoked in relation to some
countries including Sri Lanka, which he refers to by innuendo. The other
member of the panel, Yasmin Sooka, a former Truth Commission member, is
the executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) in South
Africa. Her outfit is heavily dependent on EU funds for survival. The EU
has allocated a whopping 25 million Euros for one of its programmes. She
is, therefore, beholden to the EU, which is leading a war crimes campaign
against Sri Lanka from the front (Island
: 21 July 2010).

Robert Blake calls on
President United States - Assistant Secretary of
State for South Asia and Central Asia, Robert O. Blake paid a courtesy
call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the President's House last morning
(July 21). He was accompanied by US Ambassador Patricia Butenis. President
Rajapaksa and Blake exchanged views on bilateral relations during the
breakfast meeting. External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris, Secretary to
the President, Lalith Weerathunga and Treasury Secretary Dr P B
Jayasundara also participated in the discussions. The two sides examined
ways and means of further strengthening bilateral relations between Sri
Lanka and the United States and identified several areas for the expansion
of bilateral cooperation. The US Assistant Secretary offered to increase
training facilities for Sri Lankan officials and others in the United
States. Blake is scheduled to hold further discussions with Minister of
External Affairs, Prof Peiris and other officials during his visit (Daily
News ; 21 July 2010).

UN official
blasts Ban Ki-moon on accountability - The
departing head of the agency that battles corruption in the United Nations
has issued a scathing assessment of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s
record on accountability. The memo by Inga-Britt Ahlenius blames Ban and
his senior advisers for weakening the U.N. so much it is “falling apart”
and “drifting into irrelevance.” The undersecretary-general who
stepped down from a five-year term last week says “there is no
transparency, there is lack of accountability” under Ban’s leadership.
She says Ban caused “damage to the integrity of a core process” at the
U.N. by blocking her from filling vacant posts and taking other steps that
undermined her tenure as head of the Office of Internal Oversight
Services. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Tuesday that Ban “would be
the first to say this organization has a long way to go to fully implement
the changes that are needed.”(AP) (Sinhale
Hot News : 21 July 2010).

Businessman
arrested for building apartments with LTTE funds -
The Criminal Investigation Department yesterday arrested a leading
businessman who had constructed an up-market condominium complex in
Wellawatte allegedly with the money received from the LTTE. The alleged
deal came to light following a CID probe into 11 condominium complexes in
Colombo. The suspect Sivakumar, alias Siva, is a Canadian citizen.
He had lived in Wellawatte for a long time after his return to Sri Lanka
and engaged in the construction of luxury apartments, sources said. The
suspect’s apartment complex consists of 78 units and 40 of them have
already been sold at Rs. 15 million each, according to the police. The
condominium project was launched in 2005 while the CFA between the LTTE
and the government was in force. Investigations have revealed that the
suspect had deposited large amounts of money with several banks (Island
: 21 July 2010).

Senior UN
Auditor launches attack on Secretary General -
Senior UN Auditor Inga Britt Ahlenius has launched a blistering attack on
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's leadership. Ms Ahlenius is the outgoing
head of a body charged with combating corruption and misconduct within the
organisation. In her last act at the United Nations, the organization’s
chief anti-corruption official blasted Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a
bureaucratic weakling who has reduced the U.N. to a "sad" and
perilous state of irrelevance by destroying accountability in his own
house. Ahlenius wrote in her 50 page report that under his watch,
"There is no transparency, there is lack of accountability" at
the U.N. Ahlenius specifically faulted Ban for setting up competing
investigations alongside her own and blocking her from appointing
officials of her choosing to staff her department. "Your actions are
not only deplorable, but seriously reprehensible," Ms Ahlenius is
quoted as saying. "Your action is without precedent and in my opinion
seriously embarrassing for yourself." She accused Ban of undermining
her efforts and of leading the UN into an era of decline, and of
attempting to undercut the independence of her "oversight"
office. She claims he tried to establish a parallel investigation
apparatus under his own authority, and blocked her ability to recruit
senior staff. Sounds familiar? Moon launched his parallel enquiry,
whatever his spokesperson likes to call it, to report on Sri Lanka when
the government of Sri Lanka had already appointed its own independent
enquiry, thus undermining the efforts of the Sri Lanka government to do
their own independent investigation. Judging from this and what Ms
Ahlenius has said, it appears that this is Moon’s modus operandi,
demonstrating his penchant for discrediting what others are trying hard to
do (Island
: 21 July 2010).

An
Ottawa-based aid group linked to Tamil Tiger arms dealer

Sri Lankan
MPs meet Karunanidhi - The Sri Lankan government
has not taken steps to bring about a political solution to the Tamil
ethnic problem, a Tamil MP from island country said on Tuesday. Speaking
after meeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi , MP R Sambandan
said, "Sri Lanka has not taken any concrete steps towards
implementing a political solution for the Tamil problem. The government
has not taken any dialogue with us for achieving a political
solution." A delegation of five MPs of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA)
met Karunanidhi at his residence and urged him and the Indian government
to help find a solution for the Tamil problem. According to Sambandan,
around 100,000 Tamils had not been allowed to go back to their native
places since the end of the war last year. "The pace of building
houses for Tamils is slow," he said. Queried about Karunanidhi's idea
of sending an Indian envoy to Sri Lanka, Sambandan said, "It is a
good idea. Even during (prime minister) Indira Gandhi's period,
Karunanidhi had mooted such an idea." The TNA was once vocally
supportive of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was
decimated by the Sri Lankan military in May 2009 (Hindustan
Times : 20 July 2010).

Tamil
Charity status revoked - By Asoka Weerasinghe,
Canada - The Editor (Letters) THE OTTAWA CITIZEN; Sir: Your report ‘Charity’s
status revoked over aid to Tamil Tigers’ most certainly renewed my faith
in the Canadian Revenue Agency for finally catching up with Tamil
charities that sneakily collected funds for the separatist war in Sri
Lanka and funded the Tamil Tigers. Most of the money collected by the
Tamil (Sri Lanka) Refugee-Aid Society of Ottawa went directly to the
Chandiukulum Village, which was the home of the Tamil Tiger naval base for
the Sea Tigers, the terrorists naval wing. That should have given the
Canadian Revenue Agency enough reason to suspect the intention of this
charity. Tamil charities mushroomed in 1995 just after the Tsunami and
most of them were fronts for the Tamil Tigers, and their intentions were
cleverly masked by having Roman Catholic Tamil priests associated with the
charity as did this one in Ottawa with Rev. Philip Ratnapala as a
Director. That has always been their master-plan as did the Tamil Roman
Catholic Church back in Sri Lanka’s north. With this unfortunate
experience, I will not blame the good and big hearted Canadians for being
cautious of opening their wallets to help Sri Lanka from now on. This is
unfortunate as Sri Lanka’s sick, poor and the hungry should not be
penalized because of a few misguided errant Tamil charities (LankaWeb
: 20 July 2010).

Mullaittivu debacle war
heroes immortalized - Valiant War Heroes who
fought till the last during the famous 'Mullaittivu debacle' in the year
1996 when Tiger terrorists overran their camp were immortalized on the
very date of the tragedy by erecting a special war memorial, adjacent to
the 591 Brigade Headquarters in Mullaittivu. This war memorial,
constructed by 9 Sri Lanka Sinha Regiment (SLSR) troops, was unveiled on
18th July 2010, the day that marked the final fall of the camp into
terrorists' hands some 14 years ago after a siege of two days. 44 officers
and 1119 other ranks, mainly of 5 Brigade, 9 SLSR and 6 Vijayabahu
Infantry Regiment (VIR) lost their lives during fierce gun battles that
lasted for two days. The war monument with all War Heroes' names, built on
the instructions of the Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath
Jayasuriya, was unveiled by Major General Chandana Rajaguru, Commander
Security Forces -Mullaittivu in the company of a large gathering of next
of kin of fallen War Heroes in the debacle. Parents, spouses, children and
next of kin of fallen War Heroes laid floral wreaths, flowers and lit oil
lamps at the foot of the monument soon after a military salute was
accorded. A large gathering of senior officers, Police officers and senior
citizens in the area attended the occasion (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 20 July 2010).

Foundation stone laid for
Jaffna education office complex - The government
with accordance with Northern provincial council has already allocated
funds for the new Jaffna Zonal Education office complex. The office
complex is to be built in Nallur and its foundation stone was laid under
the patronage of Northern Province Governor Major General G.A. Chandrasiri
on 15th July. The construction of the office complex is to be completed
before end of this year, an official of the northern provincial council
said speaking to defence.lk. With restoring peace and democracy in North
and East by defeating ruthless LTTE terrorist organization, the government
making maximum contribution not only to develop infrastructure in the area
but the whole education system which was ruined due to three decade long
LTTE terrorism. Mr. L. Ilaangovan, Secretary to the Northern Province
Education Ministry, Mr. V. T. Selvaratnam, Assistance Provincial Education
Director, Mrs. A. Vedhanayagam, Jaffna Zonal Educational Director and
Senior Officials from Jaffna Zonal Educational Office were also
participated at the ceremony (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 20 July 2010).

Expatriate Lankans in
Vienna helps disabled children in the North & East - Sri
Lankan expatriates in Vienna have recently donated 49 wheel chairs to
disabled children in Sri Lanka. The First Lady Madam Shiranthi Rajapaksa,
at a ceremony held at the President's House in Colombo handed over 18
wheel chairs for young children disabled by the conflict in the north and
eastern regions. The remaining wheel chairs were distributed at welfare
centers in Manik Farm, Vavuniya and Batticaloa. Sri Lankan community
members, in association with the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Vienna, collected
the fund for donation of wheel chairs at an event held on 18th May 2010 in
remembrance of Ranaviru heroes and fellow country men and women who had
sacrificed their lives during the conflict. The event also marked the
first anniversary of dawning of peace after the defeat terrorism in the
island. In order to show their solidarity with the families affected,
expatriates gathered at the event came forward to support the wheel chair
donation programme. Representatives of Sri Lankan community in Vienna also
participated at the distribution ceremony held in Sri Lanka (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 20 July 2010).

Local Government Week -
2010 held in Chunnakam - A function to mark the
Local Government Week - 2010 which was organized by the Vali South
Pradeshiya Sabha, Chunnakam, was held on 15th July at the Paradeshiya
Sabha premises. The chief guest of the occasion was Northern
Governor Major General G.A. Chandrasiri. Deputy Chairman of Committees M.
Chandrakumar MP, Commissioner of Local Government of Northern Province Mr.
F. Johnson, Regional Commissioner of Jaffna District Mrs. P. Sivalingam
and Mrs. M. Vasanthakumar and many public participated at the event.
It is graceful that school children of the area also showed their
performance in this event. Reconstruction of the Evinai - Poovalady
Road, Chunnakam, funded by the Vali South Pradeshiya Sabha was also
inaugurated during this event. Chairman of the Vali South Pradeshiya Sabha
said that Rs. 2.815 million has already been allocated for the project (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 20 July 2010).

More tsunami warning
towers for North - The Disaster Management
Centre (DMC) will set-up 25 tsunami early warning towers along the
Northern coastal belt in addition to the existing towers. DMC Deputy
Director Pradeep Kodippilly said as part of covering all coastal areas by
establishing tsunami early warning towers, the DMC has taken measures to
set-up another 25 early warning towers along the Northern coastal belt.
The DMC has already started constructing the tsunami early warning towers
in the Northern coastal belt, he added. "These tsunami early
warning towers will be set-up in addition to 55 existing early warning
towers in the Northern Province. The early warning towers have been set-up
to alert people in case of a tsunami or cyclone," Kodippilly told the
Daily News. He said many tsunami early warning towers particularly
in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi districts were damaged or destroyed during
the war. The DMC will set up early warning towers in Mannar,
Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi and Jaffna districts while a tower will be set-up
in Delf Island. Around 25 tsunami early warning towers were built
along the coastal line from Puttalam to Trincomalee. The number of early
warning towers will also be increased in the Eastern and Southern coastal
belts (Sri Lanka
Defence Ministry : 20 July 2010).

Aid group
linked to Tamil Tiger arms dealer - An
Ottawa-based aid group stripped of its charity status on the weekend was
linked to an arms merchant for Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels, according
to Canada Revenue Agency documents released today. The documents
obtained by the National Post allege that Thiruthanikan Thanigasalam, a
convicted weapons dealer, had served as the Toronto representative of the
Tamil (Sri Lanka) Refugee-Aid Society of Ottawa. The charity’s
letterhead identifies Thanigasalam as the representative of the group’s
“Toronto office,” the CRA alleges. He was also director of a 2005
tsunami relief fundraising campaign that used the society’s address,
telephone, bank account and charity registration number, the agency
says. Thanigasalam was arrested in New York in 2006 and has since
pleaded guilty to attempting to purchase Russian surface-to-air missiles
and 500 AK-47 assault rifles for the Tamil rebels. He is serving a 25-year
sentence. The CRA did not mention Thanigasalam when it announced on
Saturday it had revoked the society’s charitable status. But he is named
in letters the agency sent to the society’s director, Ottawa Catholic
priest Rev. Philip Ratnapala, on Feb. 22 and June 15. The CRA does
not suggest Rev. Ratnapala was aware of Thanigasalam’s involvement with
the Tamil rebels or arms dealing. But the agency did take the charity to
task over its financial transfers to Sri Lanka. In particular, the
agency says the group sent $713,000 to SEDOT, which the CRA letter says
was created by the late Tamil Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and “is
or was a front organization” for the rebels. The agency noted that
most of the money was directed to Chundikulam Village, which it said was
“the home of a LTTE naval base for the Sea Tigers.” The Sea Tigers
were the rebel naval wing. Canada was a critical fundraising base
for the Tamil Tigers until the rebels were wiped out by Sri Lankan forces
just over a year ago. The United Nations is looking into a possible war
crimes investigation of alleged abuses committed during the final phase of
the conflict (National
Post : 19 July 2010).

Interpol
notices for two LTTE leaders - Documents
recovered from a former LTTE base in the jungles of Northern Sri Lanka
have revealed important information about its intricate international
network. The base was used by a senior Tiger leader, Veerakathy Manivannam
also known as Castro, who was one of the outfit’s major international
linkmen. Following the recovery, the Sri Lankan government sought
help from the Interpol and international police forces to arrest two
persons including one currently residing in the US, newspaper reports in
Colombo have said. ``Interpol has already issued two red notices…based
on secret documents recovered from LTTE’s international link Castro…,’’
the government-run Sunday Observer reported. One of the two suspects
is said to be the US-based 60-year-old Ponnaiah Ananda Rajah. Originally
said to be from Jaffna, he was known to be involved with the LTTE’s arms
procurement and shipping activities since 2003, reports said. The
other person under Interpol probe was identified as Atchchuthan Sivarajah.
``He is said to have obtained pilot training from an aviation school in
France. Later he had obtained French citizenship, married and is currently
said to be living with his two children in a West Asian country,’’ the
Ada Derana website said. Sivarajah was allegedly involved in
procuring planes and aircraft parts for the LTTE. Between April 2007
and February 2009, the LTTE – the only extremist outfit to do so --
carried out several air attacks on Colombo and installations belonging to
the armed forces across the country. They operated light aircraft which
were reassembled after being smuggled into Sri Lanka, most probably by the
sea route (Hindustan
Times : 19 July 2010).

International
LTTE "terror networks" to be dismantled -
According to the "Sunday Observer "( 18) , Interpol has issued
"red notices" on two hardcore LTTE terrorists namely sixty year
old Ponniah Anandarajah alias Rajah alias Ayyah , born in Chankanai,
Jaffna and a resident of the USA as well as 48 year old Achudan Sivarasa -Pirundaban
Achudan born in Jaffna based on secret documents recovered by the Security
Forces from the LTTE "Castro" office in the Wanni recently to
break the LTTE international terror outfit reportedly still active in the
International arena. Achudan is reportedly a trained pilot from a flying
school in France who later became a French citizen living today in the
Middle East with his two children . He had been a frequent traveler to
several European and African countries and responsible for the purchase of
aircraft for the LTTE and forging links with political personalities and
business dealers . Anandarajah had been the head of the LTTE financial
procurement and shipping network since 2003 and has negotiated deals in
making arms and ammunition deals on behalf of the LTTE. Names of two other
"Top" LTTE activists involved in LTTE investments and business
deals identified as Narendran domiciled in Europe , and Bhavindran and
Rooban have also surfaced as operating from South East Asian countries .
They have been also reportedly been involved in the procurement of arms
and ships besides being involved in business deals. The government of Sri
Lanka has "sought more information from intelligence sources
regarding the three LTTE factions now operating in Norway, United Kingdom
and the USA . Reports indicate that while the Rudrakumaran faction is
based in the USA , the Nediyavan faction is based in Norway and the Global
Tamil Forum led by Fr Emmanuel is in the United Kingdom. Germany,
according to reports have so far this year arrested five LTTE suspects
while the Netherlands have arrested eight (Sri
Lanka National Security : 19 July 2010).

Over 300
ex-Tigers to sit GCE A/L - Over 300 ex-LTTE
cadres would sit for the GCE (Advanced Level) Examination in August,
Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe said
yesterday. He said that LTTE had forcibly recruited those students into
its fighting units at the expense of their education and wellbeing.
"We identified 594 as students from the government-run rehabilitation
centres, prepared 378 of them for the A/L exam and released others after
rehabilitation," Brig. Ranasinghe said. He said that the military ran
a special school for those A/L students with the assistance of the
Education Ministry. The school functions within the premises of the
Vavuniya Tamil Primary School. "We have provided them with what they
need such as books, stationery, tuition, food and lodging and they only
have to study hard," he said. According to him, the military
identified 11,800 ex-LTTE cadres for rehabilitation from the IDP camps and
some of them were among those who had surrendered to the military. There
were 152 university students among them and they were sent to the Jaffna
University. About 3,000 former LTTE cadres were released after
rehabilitation and some of them were employed in the private sector (Island
; 19 July 2010).

Ottawa
Tamil group loses charitable status

Jaffna gets NHDA flats -
The National Housing Development Authority is planing to construct flats
in the Jaffna town and it’s suburbs in lands belonging to the NHDA under
the direction of Construction, Engineering, Housing and Common Amenities
Minister Wimal Weerawansa. Lands have already been identified by
NHDA officers led by its Chairman Jayantha Samaraweera during their recent
visit to Jaffna. A number of NHDA housing schemes were inspected by
the NHDA Officials which had been damaged during the war period.The
Tharakulam housing scheme situates inside the high security zone of Jaffna
was also inspected by NHDA Chairman Jayantha Samaraweera. It was one of
the schemes seriously damaged by the war. NHDA Official said the
present occupants of Tharakulam will be provided permanent houses in the
area close to the Jaffna town as decided by the NHDA Chairman. A housing
complex in the same premises of Tharakulam will be constructed soon in
lieu of their damaged flat. A bigger land plot near Navatkuly
housing scheme has been identified to construct a larger housing scheme in
Jaffna town in 2011 according to the instruction given by Minister Wimal
Weerawansa. Residents who resided in Jaffna and its suburbs earlier will
be encouraged to acquire the houses in the Jaffna town
(Daily News : 19 July 2010).

Ex-LTTE rebels to apply
for university courses - Over 300 former Tamil
Tiger rebels, currently under rehabilitation, will sit for an examination
that would prepare them for higher education in the universities, the
government said Monday. Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe, commissioner
general of rehabilitation, said 378 ex-LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Ealam) cadres would sit for the General Certificates of Advanced Level
Examination from Aug 9 to Sep 3, Xinhua reported. ‘We identified
594 former LTTE cadres as students at the government-run rehabilitation
camps last year,’ Ranasinghe said. Ranasinghe said the LTTE
forcibly recruited these students and they sacrificed their education to
fulfill the needs of the organization. The military runs a special
school for these students with the assistance of the education
ministry. Ranasinghe said the military has identified 11,800 ex-LTTE
cadres for rehabilitation from the refugee camps at the end of the civil
war in 2009. The LTTE had been fighting for a separate Tamil
homeland in Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern provinces for three decades
before being defeated by the government troops in May 2009 (Culcutta
Tube ; 19 July 2010).

Canada delists charity
body funding LTTE - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
Saturday announced that it has revoked the charitable registration of
Ottawa-area charity, Tamil Refugee-Aid Society (TRAS) effective July 17,
2010. The agency is responsible for administering tax laws for the
Government of Canada and for most provinces and territories.
According to the findings, the charity has provided funds including
$713,000 to an organization, which the CRA believes was operating as part
of the support network for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE),
a listed entity under the United Nations Suppression of Terrorism
Regulations and the Criminal Code of Canada. The Agency has issued a
notice last month of its intention to revoke the charitable registration
of the Society saying that on the basis of an audit conducted, it has
concluded that the Society has ceased to comply with the requirements of
the Income Tax Act for its continued registration. The CRA stated
that in that the charity failed to maintain adequate control and direction
over the use of its funds; improperly issued tax receipts on behalf of
third parties; and provided funding to non-qualified donees outside
Canada. The CRA said its audit also indicated that fundraising
conducted under the Society’s auspices involved an individual who has
been convicted in the United States of conspiring to provide material
support to the LTTE. In addition, the Society’s liaison officer
for Sri Lanka was named in documents filed with the Federal Court of
Canada as a contact for area sales coordinators with the World Tamil
Movement, also a listed entity under the Criminal Code of Canada because
of its ties to the LTTE (Daily
News ; 19 July 2010).

The Thirteenth Amendment:
What it hails for Sri Lanka - By Garvin
Karunaratne, Ph.D. former SLAS(G.A. Matara) - Today, the Thirteenth
Amendment is hailed as what could bring about communal harmony. The LTTE
Diaspora as well as learned luminaries among the Sinhala community and the
international community are full of praise urging Sri Lanka to implement
the Thirteenth Amendment in full including devolving land and police
powers to the Provinces. Little do they know what will happen to Sri
Lanka. The LTTE Dispora are actually trying to resurrect Prabakaran’s
goal of a separate state as a stepping stone to conquering Sri Lanka for
the LTTE. The Sinhala community luminaries that support the Thirteenth
Amendment are of two categories. One group comprise the University dons,
the book worms whose knowledge of life and development is relegated to the
realm of books and academic study. Other than lecturing and writing they
have never achieved anything tangible. They are perhaps in the pay of the
LTTE Diaspora to write in their favour and there are authorities that
offer them support in the form of publication grants and trips abroad.
This applies to the dons, the experts in history who are silent about the
homeland theory. The homeland theory finds no support because of
epigraphical evidence dating back to the days before Christ found all over
Sri Lanka. The other category comprise the legal luminaries whose only
experience lies in litigation and human rights. They care little for the
country and have no knowledge of administration. They too are at times
offered grants for work of all sorts, offered study tours etc. These
lucrative offers keep them going. Many of them work in NGO that espouse
the cause of separatism (LankaWeb
: 18 July 2010).

Interpol issues red
notices on two hardcore terrorists: Fresh moves to break LTTE ‘backbone’
abroad - Fresh moves are under way with the
assistance of Interpol and other intelligence agencies abroad to break the
`backbone’ of the LTTE’s international terror network which is
believed to be still active in certain countries, according to informed
sources. Interpol has already issued red notices on two hardcore LTTE
terrorists. The Interpol action is based on the secret documents which
were recovered from the LTTE’s international link spot known as ‘Castro’
office in the Wanni by Sri Lankan authorities recently, the sources said.
The two prime LTTE hardcore terrorists who were issued with red notices by
Interpol are Ponniah Anandarajah alias Rajah alias Ayyah of the USA. Rajah
is sixty years and hails from Chankanai, Jaffna. He had been the head of
the LTTE financial procurement and shipping network since 2003. He holds a
US passport and has travelled extensively to negotiate the purchase of
arms and ammunition for the LTTE outfit. Sri Lanka had sought the
assistance of Interpol to arrest him with regard to his international
links and Interpol issued a red notice on him, the sources said. Another
hardcore LTTEer who had been issued the Interpol red notice is Achudan
Sivarasa-Pirundaban Achudan. He was born in 1972 in Jaffna. He had been
trained as a pilot at a flying school in France. Later he became a citizen
of France. He is married and has two children and lives in a Middle
Eastern country. He had travelled frequently to several European and
African countries and was responsible in purchasing aircraft for the LTTE.
He engaged in several business activities with the investments of the LTTE
in foreign countries. He was also responsible in developing contacts with
political figures and business magnates abroad in support of the LTTE, the
sources said. The video clippings of this hardcore LTTE member which were
sent to the LTTE in the Wanni when the outfit was active are now in the
custody of the Security Forces, the sources said. He had also conducted
training classes for suicide cadres according to the evidence collected in
the Wanni (Sunday
Observer : 18 July 2010).

Hundreds of LTTE war
widows seek government assistance Rehab Minister says Mrs. Balakumaran and
Yogi among them - Rehabilitation and Prisons
Reforms Minister Dew Gunasekera says an urgent programme is needed to
provide relief to war widows, including wives of the LTTE cadres killed
during the war. Speaking to The Island after meeting groups of war widows
in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Kilinochchi over a week ago, Minister Gunasekera
emphasized the importance of meaningful measures to alleviate their
suffering. General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka,
Gunasekera said that among the women whom he had met in Jaffna were the
wives of K.V. Balakumaran and Yogiratnam Yogi, a member of the LTTE
negotiating team for talks with the then President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s
government. The Army killed Balakumaran on the Vanni east front early last
year. Balakumaran was formerly the leader of the Eelam Revolutionary
Organisation of Students (EROS) and joined the LTTE in the early 1990s.
Minister Gunasekera acknowledged that there had not been a detailed study
on LTTE widows, though various NGOs and government officials from time to
time had given different figures since the conclusion of the war in May
last year. He said that his ministry had called for applications from
people of the Northern Province before meeting them in three separate
groups in Jaffna (July 10), Kilinochchi (11) and Vavuniya (12). Responding
to our query, he said that of the 8,000 who had responded to his ministry’s
call, about 98 per cent were young women (Island
: 18 July 2010).

Migrant ship near
Guatemala - A ship carrying over 200 Sri Lankan
asylum seekers heading for Canada has been sighted near Guatemala, the
Asian Tribune reported today. The 59-metre ship MV Sun Sea was yesterday
seen near Guatemala, carrying more than 219 illegal Sri Lankan Tamil
migrants and 12 Indian Tamil migrants. The ship, which was earlier headed
for Australia is now reportedly headed for British Columbia and the
Canadian authorities have been placed on alert. There were also reports
that some LTTE suspects may be among the asylum seekers. (Daily
Mirror online : 18 July 2010).

Rebels have been routed
for good, says Sri Lankan Tamil MP - Sri Lanka
is finding its feet a year after the rout of the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the death of its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The
sesssionist struggle for a Tamil homeland in the north and east of the
country by the Tiger rebels may have come to nought, but many Tamils are
happy about the government's reconciliation efforts with the minorities.
With development projects in full swing, there is no indication of the
dreaded outfit regrouping, according to a senior Tamil MP. Political will
and military muscle may have ensured there are no more tears from
terrorists in the tiny tear-drop shaped country, south of India. Critics,
however, accuse the government of human rights violations and for the
plight of thousands of refugees displaced by war. ''There is no room for
violence in the new Sri Lanka, the focus is on growth and civil harmony,''
said Tamil-Muslim Member of Parliament Abdul Cader of the opposition
United National Party, a political veteran of over two decades (Daily
Me ; 18 July 2010).

Ottawa Tamil
group loses charitable status - The Canada
Revenue Agency has revoked the charitable status of Tamil (Sri Lanka)
Refugee-Aid Society of Ottawa. The agency said Saturday that the
society "was operating as part of the support network for the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam," which Canada and the United
Nations have declared a terrorist organization. The government
"has made it very clear that it will not tolerate the abuse of the
registration system for charities to provide any means of support to
terrorism," the agency said in a news release. The society
provided $713,000 to a group supporting the Tamil Tigers, a news release
said. "The CRA audit also indicates that fundraising conducted
under the society's auspices involved an individual who has been convicted
in the United States of conspiring to provide material support to the LTTE."
The society's liaison officer for Sri Lanka was named in documents filed
with the Federal Court of Canada as a contact with the World Tamil
Movement, also a terrorist organization because of its ties to the Tamil
Tigers (CBC
Canada : 18 July 2010).

Canada
Revenue Agency revokes Tamil group's charitable status -
An Ottawa-based Tamil organization has lost its charitable status. The
Canada Revenue Agency has revoked the charitable registration of the Tamil
(Sri Lanka) Refugee-Aid Society of Ottawa. In a letter sent to the
organization, the agency says the society failed to maintain control over
its use of funds, improperly issued tax receipts on behalf of third
parties and provided funding to people outside Canada who were not
entitled to a donation. This funding included $713,000 provided to another
organization which, the agency believed was operating as part of the
support network for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a group on
Canada's official list of terrorist organizations. The agency says an
audit also revealed that the fundraising involved a person who had been
convicted in the United States of conspiring to provide material support
to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (CTV
News : 18 July 2010).

Ban adds muscle to UN
panel Eight-member secretariat set up; NAM still divided on Lankan issue;
third draft being put into shape - United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has raised his stakes with plans to
set up an eight person secretariat, headed by a senior official at a
director level (D-2), to facilitate the work of his advisory panel on
alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. The move comes after he ignored the
abortive “fast unto death” outside the UN complex in Colombo and a
vociferous charge that he has exceeded his administrative authority. With
the establishment of the secretariat, the three-member panel will begin
work at the UN in New York. The Inner City Press, a UN-based website,
reported that the Chief of Staff of the secretariat would be Jessica
Neuwirth, known to be a human rights activist and confidante of UN Human
Rights Commissioner Navy Pillay, who has taken a strong stand on the Sri
Lankan issue. The three members of the panel tasked to advise UN Chief Ban
on accountability issues during the last stages of the separatist war last
year are from Indonesia, South Africa and the United States. The move is a
prelude to a UN probe on alleged war crimes by troops and guerrillas. The
temporary secretariat, funded by the secretary-general's own contingency
budget, is expected to provide logistical assistance to the panel during
the proposed four-month inquiry due to begin later this month or early
next month (Sunday
Times : 18 July 2010).

Pro-LTTE director
detained for one year - The government in the
southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu ordered the detention of film director
and ‘Naam Thamizhar’ party founder Sebastian Seeman under the National
Security Act (NSA) for allegedly making inflammatory speeches against Sri
Lanka. He was arrested on July 12 for a speech he made while leading a
protest against the Lankan Navy’s alleged attacks on Tamil Nadu
fishermen. He was earlier detained under the same act on February 28, 2009
for his open support to the banned LTTE. This detention means that Mr
Seeman would have to serve one-year in jail (Sunday
Times : 18 July 2010).

‘Lessons learnt’
panel to visit Kilinochchi - The Commission of
Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation will hold a meeting with
public officials in Kilinochchi this month to make preparations for public
sittings later, officials said. They said the Kilinochchi meeting will be
attended by public officials, including Divisional Secretaries and the
discussions will focus on modalities and institutional matters ahead of
the public hearings that are billed to begin at the end of next month or
early September. The commission will also search for any violations of
internationally accepted norms of conduct in such conflict situations, and
the circumstances that may have led to such actions, and identify any
persons or groups responsible for such acts. Recommendations would also be
made on the nature of compensation to be granted to victims or their
dependants who have suffered in this conflict situation (Sunday
Times : 18 July 2010).

Advisory Council - Only
The Camel's Head - By Dr. T.Jayasinghe -
Palestine Sri Lanka bashers are at it once again. The issue of the so
called Advisory Council appointed by Ban ki Moon reached its climax with
Minister Wimal Weerawansa staging a fast unto death. This fast has had its
desired results even though some anti national cynics in media specially
in the cartoon field decided to laugh at it. Many failed to understand
that this Advisory Council is only the head of the camel. Rest in the form
of war crime tribunals etc was to follow. Thanks to the exposure by
Minister Wimal Weerawansa and the interest created by him Advisory Council
is now a joke. Ever since the defeat of terrorism LTTE proxies in Sri
Lanka and abroad financed by the rich Tamil Tiger diapora continued with
its sinister campaign to discredit the armed forces and the President of
Sri Lanka. They have successfully brainwashed the leaders of the
international human rights organizations and donor countries. These
elements had the support of the political opportunists in South India but
fortunately for Sri Lanka true Indians cannot forget the brutal murder of
their revered leader Rajiv Gandhi by the LTTE terrorists. LTTE Diaspora
well known for its human, drug and arms trafficking activities all over
the world spend their ill-gotten money to buy over influential officials
and politicians in high positions. Sri Lanka's former colonial masters and
some disgruntled leaders in Norway who almost sold Sri Lanka to LTTE and
some Mexican drug lords hurt by the defeat of their drug carrier LTTE are
burning midnight oil to discredit and destabilize the government of Sri
Lanka. In this scenario it is very important to note that the war with
LTTE is not over yet (Asian
Tribune: 18 July 2010).

Sri
Lanka Government implements Rs.12 Billion worth development projects in
the North.

When will India stops
interfering with the internal affairs of Sri Lanka? -
by Sudath Gunasekara PhD. (S.L A. S). President Senior Citizens Movement .Mahnuwara
- I reproduce below a news report by a special correspondent that appeared
in the Hindu of 18th July 2010. “CHENNAI, July 16, 2010; PM seeks views
of Chief Minister on Sri Lanka Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has sought
views and advice of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on ways to be adopted
for the process of genuine reconciliation to resolve the ethnic issue in
Sri Lanka. Responding to the Chief Minister’s letter of July 3, Dr
Singh, in his reply of July 9, stated that “my government will certainly
do all that it can to enable the Tamils in Sri Lankan to live a life of
dignity and self-respect. We will use our influence and make efforts to
help in the restoration of normal life in northern and eastern Sri Lanka
through the rapid rehabilitation of the internally displaced persons [IDP].”
Pointing out that the Union government had committed Rs. 500 crore for the
purpose, the Prime Minister said the government would also render
assistance in the construction of 50,000 houses for IDPs. Besides, it was
trying to restore normal economic activity in the areas by building
infrastructure and promoting sustainable livelihood. Thanking Mr
Karunanidhi for his letter on the situation of the Tamils, Dr. Singh
mentioned that apart from his discussion with Sri Lankan President Mahinda
Rajapaksa last month, he had recently met a delegation of Members of the
Sri Lankan Parliament who belonged to the Tamil National Alliance”.
Assuming the above news item as authentic we can come to the following
main conclusions by reading that statement (LankaWeb
: 17 July 2010).

More Tamil Tigers on
their way to Canada’s B.C. coast on a vessel -
by Asoka Weerasinghe, Canada - The Editor (Letters) THE OTTAWA CITIZEN -
Sir: You have told us that Canada is keeping watch on a Thai vessel
carrying 200 illegal Sri Lankan migrants mainly Tamil Tigers, a group
banned in Canada since April 2006, which is heading towards the B.C.
coast. According to an Internal Canada Border Services Agency report, 25
of the 76 Tamils who arrived last October in Vancouver on board the Ocean
Lady and released from detention were hard core Tamil Tiger terrorists.
This decision no doubt has created a precedent for this vessel, Sun Sea to
sail towards Canada, carrying the Tamil Tigers, and I have a hunch that
this vessel won’t be the last. I have difficult to understand why Canada
would want to harbour these terrorists when Sri Lanka is rapidly restoring
normalcy and dignity in the lives of Tamil people in the North and East of
the country which was the theatre of war for 27 long years, through rapid
reconciliation and rehabilitation of the 300,000 internally displaced
people (IDP) after the war ended on May 18, 2009, having defeated the
Tamil Tigers militarily. When no Tamil Tiger bomb has exploded in Sri
Lanka and no bullet has been fired by the Tamil Tigers nor the Government
Armed Forces since the war ended; when over a thousand child soldiers were
rehabilitated and sent back home to their parents and now studying at high
schools to enter Universities and Medical Colleges; when Karuna, the
second in command of the Tamil Tigers who led the Elephant Pass 24 day
attack in July 1991, and commanded the massacre of 700 surrendered
Sinhalese policemen on June 11, 1990 in the East is now the Deputy
Resettlement Minister of the island looking after the interest of his
people and resettling them; when there are only 20,000 IDPs left to be
resettled which will be done no sooner the remaining land mines are
cleared; I am not sure why Canada has to accommodate and create a Tamil
Tiger terrorist enclave in the Toronto area (LankaWeb
: 17 July 2010).

Tamil terrorist claims
exaggerated: former UN spokesman - by Vajeera
Warnakulasuriya, Melbourne - To the Attention of Presenter Asia Pacific,
Mr. Liam Cochrane; Tamil terrorist claims exaggerated: former UN spokesman
- In response to the above interview during Asia Pacific segment of ABC
National radio that went on air today (17/07/10) and the article that
Gordon Weiss submitted to the Age canvassing a favourable selection
criteria by the department of Immigration & Emigration for Asylum
seekers who have been arriving frequently these days I wish to posit the
following. Related links: Liam Cochrane on Asia Pacific, http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/stories/201007/s2956198.htm
Response by Sri Lankan High Commissioner. Mr.Senaka Welgampaya http://www.abc.net.au/ra/asiapac/stories/201007/s2956202.htm
Article in Age http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/tamil-tiger-is-extinct-and-regime-knows-it/story-e6frg6zo-1225892329407
Gordon Weiss says, the LTTE cadres that come in those boats are no threat
to Australia. May be so. The intention of the Sri Lankan government in
advising any foreign government is to allude to the fact that this
generation during the last three decades, whilst being deprived of a
decent education were unfortunately involved in every facet of a senseless
brutal terrorism, unlike those who had an excellent free education to be
qualified as Professionals and migrate to the foreign soils. The
government of Sri Lanka does not give a rat’s arse even if Australia
gives migrant status to the entire Tamil tiger cadres or the economic
migrant Tamils who capitalized on the current situation in Sri Lanka to
migrate to Australia. The exodus of this arrival is due to the fact they
know the future chances of arriving on this pretext is fast running out.
You can only fool the Australian Foreign Ministry for some of the time!
Obviously the Australian Embassy in Colombo is sufficiently qualified to
provide adequate information to the Foreign Ministry (Lankaweb
: 17 July 2010).

Judge finds Seeman's
speech inflammatory; bail plea dismissed - A
bail petition by Seeman, film director and leader of the ‘Naam Thamizhar
Iyakkam' was dismissed on Friday. The prosecution case is that Mr. Seeman,
who conducted a protest meeting near the Chennai Collectorate on July 10,
spoke in support of the LTTE and in a provocative manner to create
disharmony among Sinhalese and Tamils. He was arrested and remanded to
judicial custody on July 12. He submitted that his speech would not
constitute an offence as alleged by the police and was not intended to
provoke unlawful activity. Dismissing the petition, P. Devadoss, Principal
Sessions Judge, Chennai, said Mr. Seeman, in his speech, had referred to
Sinhalese students and made an inflammatory speech that had the likelihood
of consequences of even causing danger to their lives. The court had to
see the entire material and the speech in totality. A reading of the
petitioner's entire speech showed that it was provocative and inflammatory
in nature and would create disharmony and insecurity between two groups on
grounds of their race and place of birth. It was in the nature of
likelihood of goading the public in general, and his (Seeman) followers in
particular, to involve themselves in violence (Hindu
: 17 July 2010).

Jaffna TC upgraded to
Technological University - The Jaffna Technical
College managed by the Technical Education Department has been upgraded as
a Technological University by the Vocational and Technical Training
Institute. The academic activities will be started at the Jaffna
Technological University soon, Vocational and Technical Training Institute
Assistant Director D.V.T.Y. Kulathunga said. The Government of the
Republic of Korea and Korean International Cooperation Academy (KOICA)
granted Rs. 233 million worth technical and financial assistance to the
University under an MoU signed with the Government. The University has
been upgraded into a sophisticated technical university with the Korean
technical knowhow, he said. The University will hold lectures on
Construction and Motor Mechanic and they will be held as certificate and
diploma level. Kulathunga said around 40 students will be recruited per
one course. The University was upgraded as a pledge to enhance the
technical education of the country as promised by the Mahinda Chintana.
Those who fail to receive higher education can follow slandered technical
education through this university. Students will be educated up to diploma
level for which there is a great demand in the job market, he said. There
are around nine technical colleges in the island. This will be the tenth
college of this type. All other technical colleges have already started
academic activities. Kandy, Badulla, Rathnapura, Kurunegala, Anuradhapura
and Ampara are the other places where technical colleges have been
established (Daily
News : 17 July 2010).

North and East economy
grows: Central Bank - Sri Lanka's northern and
eastern provinces slightly increased their share of National Gross
Domestic Product last year compared with 2008 following the end of a war,
the Central Bank said. The western province remained as the highest
contribution to GDP in 2009 but its share reduced further to 45.1 percent
from 45.4 percent in 2008, it said in an analysis of provincial GDP. The
contribution of the northern province to the GDP improved slightly to 3.3
percent in 2009 compared to 3.2 percent in 2008. "This was a positive
development that may be observed since the ending of the 30-year old
conflict," the statement said. "There was no significant
expansion of the contribution of the northern province to GDP as the
impact of the improvement in consumer and investor confidence in the
aftermath of the civil war will only be felt by the economy with a time
lag." The island's ethnic conflict ended in May 2009 when Tamil Tiger
separatists were defeated by government forces, resulting in an immediate
upturn in the national economy as hitherto unproductive regions came back
into production (Sunday
Island : 18 July 2010).

Govt to begin bus
services in eight new routes: Transport boost for Northerners -
The Government will begin long distance bus services on eight new routes
including Kilinochchi-Colombo, Batticaloa-Kilinochchi,
Trincomalee-Kilinochchi,Mannar-Batticaloa, Mannar-Trincomalee, Mullaitivu-Colombo,
Mullaitivu-Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu-Batticaloa in the North and
East. The decision was taken after discussions by Transport Minister
Kumara Welgama with Industrial Development and Commerce Minister Rishad
Bathiudeen, Vavuniya Divisional Secretary P.S.M.Charles and officers of
both SLTB and private bus services in the North at the District
Secretariat in Vavuniya recently. Minister Welgama said new buses will be
deployed to commence long distance services on these routes which had been
deprived of transport facilities and also to improve the existing bus
service in the North. Meanwhile, the Minister has advised the National
Transport Commission (NTC) to accelerate the route permit issuing
procedure to launch these long distance bus services to benefit
northerners. NTC officials agreed to submit a report to the Minister
within the next two weeks. The Minister also emphasized the importance of
setting up a new bus depot at Mullaitivu and instructed SLTB Chairman
M.D.Bandusena to provide buses immediately to the Mullaitivu bus depot.
Minister Welgama inspected the Vavuniya bus depot and instructed officials
to take immediate action to repair the dilapidated buses (Daily
News : 17 July 2010).

Kilinochchi - seat of
terror to reconciliation hub - Kilinochchi
brings up mixed feelings, depending on the political view one holds of
what has taken place in Sri Lanka in the past three decades. To those
compelled to suffer the years of terror unleashed by the LTTE in its
violent campaign for the setting up of a separate Eelam on Sri Lankan
soil, it is today a place of great conquest and victory. To those
supportive of the LTTE, both covertly and overtly, it is now a place of
defeat and shame, as it symbolizes the failure of the unreal dream of
Velupillai Prabhakaran and a coterie of diehard separatists, whose
strength and influence flowed from the barrels of the guns they held. For
the Tamil people who were unconverted fellow travellers of the LTTE it may
be a place to ponder on the plight they were plunged into by those who
broke away from traditional tolerance and friendship of their community
and dragged this country, and especially the North, into a quagmire of
blood and a field of destruction (Daily
News : 17 July 2010).

Top
priority towards eradicating poverty in North-East

CANADA MONITORS
SUSPICIOUS VESSEL - Canadian authorities are
monitoring a Thai cargo ship after reports it may be on its way to the
British Columbia coast with more than 200 migrants on board. The MV Sun
Sea was last spotted in the Gulf of Thailand, where it was the subject of
a lookout issued by the Philippine Coast Guard, which called it "a
suspected people-smuggling vessel." On the weekend, Colombo's Sunday
Observer newspaper reported that while the 59-metre vessel was originally
headed for Australia it was now sailing toward the Canadian coast. The
office of Jason Kenney, the Minister of Immigration, is following the
case. "This could end up being a prime example of individuals trying
to take advantage of our generous immigration system," said Celyeste
Power, the Minister's spokeswoman. The Department of Foreign Affairs also
said it was "aware of press reports suggesting that a vessel has
departed Southeast Asian waters and may be destined for Canada," and
vowed to prosecute anyone caught smuggling human cargo. "Please note
that those responsible for migrant smuggling will be pursued, investigated
and prosecuted to the full extent of Canadian law and in accordance with
the provisions of international conventions and protocols," said
Alain Cacchione, a Foreign Affairs spokesman (National
Post : 16 July 2010).

Northern High Security
Zones will not be removed - Minister Rambukwella
- High Security Zones (HSZ) are essential to ensure the security in the
region, hence will not be removed from the Northern Province, government
spokesman said yesterday (15 July). Addressing media, Minister Rambukwella
said these HSZ were vital to win the war against terrorists and they are
mandatory for the country's security. The Minister further explained that,
since the unavailability of states lands in strategic areas to establish
HSZ in the North the government is forced to use private lands for the
purpose (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 16 July 2010).

OPEN LETTER TO BAN KI
MOON -YOU ARE NOT AUTHORISED - By Stanley Perera
from Melbourne - My dear Mr. Moon, You have appointed a panel of experts
to investigate into internal affairs of sovereign country Sri Lanka
without first consulting and obtaining authorisation from the UNSC or the
UNO’s General Assembly. You are the Secretary General and not the CEO.
As the panel of experts is not appointed or authorised by the above
mentioned instrumentalities, the panel of experts is illegal in the first
place. Furthermore, the host country vehemently disapproves your
appointment of the panel. There is worldwide agitation that the panel is
illegal. The expert’s integrity and their sincerity have been
challenged. Thereby their findings and the report of the remote control
panel will have no validity. In Judge Judy’s court, it will be thrown
out of the window. There is enough and more speculation that you are
biased against Sri Lanka and you are being noosed by the corrupt and
racists UNO ambassadors. There has been no request by anybody to
investigate into the war crimes committed by Sri Lanka when UNSC has
openly debated and cleared Sri Lanka of any war crimes. Therefore your
back door method is contempt of UNSC. If there is any code of conduct at
all governing the ambassadors and the Secretary General, you must be
severely dealt with. Your motive is very clear that you are determined to
frame charges against Sri Lanka by hook or by crook. There is a very
strong feeling amongst the peace loving people of the world that you are
supporting terrorism in Sri Lanka. There is also doubt if your objectives
are sincere and certainly financially strong pro Terrorist Tamil Diaspora
has bought you over (LankaWeb
: 16 July 2010).

Well said Your Excellency
- by Nimal Bhareti - According to a press
report, the President, in an interview with the Manila Times, has said
that he is not worried about the appointment of the Advisory Council by
the UNSG on alleged human rights violations in the last stages of the war
as he has nothing to hide. Well said Your Excellency. The greatest
achievement of the President was the elimination of the LTTE and of
terrorism from the country. The overwhelming mandate he received at the
two elections was a clear endorsement of the verdict of the people on this
victory. While the President strove to solve the problem by negotiation,
the LTTE flatly rejected these attempts, and hence he had to choose the
option of eliminating terrorism by the only other option, namely the
military option. Despite immense pressure from the western countries, he
finally defeated the LTTE and eliminated terrorism. In this fierce battle
which the LTTE resisted till the very last, the loss of civilian lives and
the killing of LTTE cadres were inevitable. While the loss of civilian
lives was minimized, it would have been further reduced if the LTTE in the
last stages of the war had not used them as human shields (Island
: 16 July 2010).

Parts of LTTE craft
destroyed in final battle salvaged - The Naval
Intelligence team, attached to the Eastern Command, salvaged parts of a
sunken LTTE craft and its weapons from the seas six nautical miles east of
Mullaithivu. The craft is believed to be one of the LTTE boats, fitted
with high-powered engines, sunk by the Navy’s combined forces of elite
Special Boat Squadron, Fast Attack Craft Squadron and Rapid Action Boat
Squadron during the final stage of naval operations. Among the recovered
weapons were parts of a 12.7mm T85 gun, a gun mount with bracket, an
ammunition box and 60 rounds of 12.7x108mm ammunition. A partially
corroded 85 HP engine and a steering wheel were also among the items
salvaged (Island
: 16 July 2010).

Famous Iranamadu
sanctified by Pirith chanting - LTTE terrorists'
former stronghold, 'Malathi Base' near famous Iranamadu junction, now a
fully fledged Army camp was sanctified by Pirith chanting after absence of
nearly 30 years, to coincide with the 1st anniversary of the establishment
of the Kilinochchi Security Forces Headquarters (SFHQ-KLN). Presence of 30
saffron-robed Buddhist monks, invited to the venue from Anuradhapura added
colour to the whole area as they were conducted in a colourful procession,
carrying Buddhist flags before chanting got underway, led by Ven
Nugathenne Pannananda Nayaka Thero, Incumbent, Sri Sambuddha Jayanthi
Viharaya, Anuradhapura. Iranamadu, notoriously famous for its pitched
battles during humanitarian operations, claimed scores of precious lives
of War Heroes as well as LTTE combatants as final battles were raging.
Major General Chandana Rajaguru, Commander Security Forces, Kilinochchi
offered the traditional tray of betel to the Maha Sangha and invited them
to conduct chanting until following morning. An alms-giving on the
following day culminated the arrangements. Senior and junior officers and
a large number of soldiers were associated with the event (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 16 July 2010).

Government implements
Rs.12 Billion worth development projects in the North - The
development of the North's economic and social infrastructure was
expedited to a level that the country had never witnessed, under the
Uthuru Vasanthaya180 days' development programme at the cost of Rs.12080.5
Million. These projects had provided significant infrastructure facilities
to the people in the North whose lives were wrecked by the LTTE during the
past three decades. Under the 180 days' development programme, diverse
projects were launched in nearly 15 different fields such as Transport and
Highways, Irrigation and Agriculture, Power supply, Education and
Fisheries, ect, encompassing the full spectrum of services that are deemed
essential to the life of the community. It is worthy of special mention
that there has been over 80% performance in the implement of this project.
Ministries other than the Ministry of National Building and Estate
Infrastructure Development have incurred an expenditure of Rs.1, 865
Million in the execution of the task of development and provision of
infrastructure facilities. The Ministry of National Building and Estate
Infrastructure Development has also incurred an expenditure of Rs.2,222
Million under 'Gama Neguma', 'Samurdhi', 'Jathika Saviya', Uthuru
Vasanthaya' and the Decentralized Budget in the execution of the 180 days'
programme. Expenditure incurred in respect of the development work and
infrastructure development handled by all Ministries within a short space
of six months totaled Rs.11, 087 Million (Sri
Lanka Defence Ministry : 16 July 2010).

Ship allegedly carrying
Tamil Tigers bound for B.C.: reports - Canada is
watching out for a ship alleged to be carrying illegal Tamil migrants
after a Sri Lankan newspaper warned the vessel could be headed for British
Columbia. The Colombo Sunday Observer reports a Thai Cargo ship — the MV
Sun Sea — is sailing for Canada with 200 migrants on board, including
members of the Tamil Tigers, the military arm of the Tamil separatist
movement. Foreign affairs spokesman Alain Cacchione says the government is
aware of reports suggesting the ship has left South East Asian waters and
may be headed for Canada. He adds that those responsible for migrant
smuggling will be “pursued, investigated and prosecuted” to the full
extent of Canadian and international law. The Observer says the ship,
previously known as the Harin Panich 19, was originally headed for
Australia. The paper says the vessel was last spotted in May in the Gulf
of Thailand where its captain, a Tiger leader named Vinod, warned that
several illegal migrants would “throw themselves overboard if anyone
tried to board his ship.” (The
Star : 16 July 2010).

Tamil Tigers
at the front door - SRI Lankan asylum-seekers
with links to Tamil terrorists pose a dilemma for Canberra. IN
October last year a Sri Lankan mother packed up her two small children and
a few belongings, paid her savings to a people-smuggler and boarded an
unseaworthy boat in Indonesia, bound for Australia. Shayana (not her real
name) hoped it would be the final leg of her family's long journey to
escape the bloodshed and tumult still wracking their homeland after 26
years of civil war. But it was not to be. On October 18 their
boat foundered off the coast of Sumatra and, after sending out a distress
signal, they were rescued by an Australian Customs ship, the Oceanic
Viking, and taken back to Indonesia for processing by the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees. Shayana and her children were assessed to be
legal refugees, at risk of persecution if they returned to Sri
Lanka. But when their files were examined by Australia's domestic
security agency ASIO, they were deemed a security risk and barred.
The apparent reason for the adverse assessment was Shayana's links to the
militant separatist group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is
classified as a terrorist organisation in many countries. Shayana was a
lawyer who had worked for the judiciary run by the LTTE, which held
administrative power in the northern district of Vanni where she lived,
her brother told The Australian in March. Shayana and her children
were flown to Christmas Island, where her husband was already in
detention, having also been deemed a security threat. They remain there,
awaiting a final decision on their fate. The question now vexing
Australian authorities is whether Shayana and other former Tamil Tiger
members, fighters and supporters should be accepted as refugees in need of
protection, or rejected as potential terrorists and sympathisers.
It's a pressing issue after the Gillard government last week lifted the
freeze imposed in April on the processing of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers,
and after claims this week by an Australian Sri Lankan security analyst,
Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe, that up to half of the Tamils seeking asylum
here are connected to the LTTE (The
Australian : 16 July 2010).

Govt.
insists on HSZs at strategic points - The
government yesterday stressed that the country should have high security
zones at strategic locations for the safety of its citizens. Addressing
the weekly cabinet news conference, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella
said the government had to acquire private land unless strategically
important state lands were available for the purpose. The Minister was
responding to queries by journalists that some people in the North had
denied access to their lands since they had been marked as security zones.
"We should have such security zones in the country. That is for the
security of the country. Now, the United States maintains a security zone
in Korea. People protest against it. Yet, the US continues to maintain
them," he said. Asked whether the denial of land rights to people
could lead to another war, the Minister said such a problem would not
arise once basic issues of the people in the North were addressed.
"If people are empowered economically and given equal rights, they
will not rise against the government. As long as their basic problems are
addressed, we need not worry about another war," he said. He said,
"I categorically say that there should be safety zones in a
country." The media also questioned him about the allegation that
lands in the North had been given to certain private companies for
investment purposes. Commenting on the first ever cabinet meeting in
Kilinochchi, he said this was a city declared by the LTTE at that time as
the capital of their de-facto state. Through this cabinet meeting, he
said, the government had signalled to the whole world that Sri Lanka was
an undivided country. In the future, he said, the government would conduct
Cabinet meetings in outstations to have a healthy dialogue and take
appropriate action with regard to regional development issues (Daily
Mirror : 16 July 2010).

Ex-Tamil
Fighters Start Factory Life in Sri Lanka - Four
hundred women who once fought for Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam left
rehabilitations camps in the northern district of Vavuniya last month and
made the seven-hour trip south to a hostel here set up for them by a major
apparel exporter. Fourteen months ago many of them carried arms. They gave
them up in May when Sri Lankan troops won the 30-year battle with the
separatist group. Now, with their lives as guerrillas behind them, they
faced new jobs in clothing factories owned by the Tri Star Group, a major
apparel exporter in Sri Lanka that has set up housing for the
ex-combatants. They arrived in the evening and the next morning they would
be enrolled as machine operators in three garment plants a few miles away.
Each day Tri Star buses transport them to work and back. In the
rehabilitation camp they were taught to meditate, participated in
theatrical activities and received training on beauty, culture and
personal care. Almost a year later, it was time to rejoin society. "I
am here to begin a new life," said Manju, who only goes by one name.
She spoke Tamil and communicated through a translator in a meeting at one
of the hostels, furnished with beds, toilets and bathing facilities. As
she spoke other women, who had also just arrived, sipped soft drinks and
arranged their belongings in the drawers that had been allotted to them.
"I am excited about coming here. From tomorrow, I will be a working
woman. I will never touch a gun again," she said. Tri Star Group,
based in Ratmalana, a major suburb in the capital Colombo, is a nearly
30-year old company with 16 garment factories island-wide. It exports
women's and children's apparel to major international retailers such as
Wal-Mart, Target stores and Gap, employing 10,000 people, mostly women (WomensRadio).

What was really happening
in Sri Lanka was that a blood thirsty racist group led by
some misled Tamils called LTTE was terrorizing against the Government
of Sri Lanka and its people irrespective of their ethnicity with an
intention of carving out a separate state. There is no conflict as
such between Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka. In fact,
the majority of the Tamil community lives in peace and harmony among
the Sinhalese population through out the country apart from the
Northern part of Sri Lanka. The entire Sinhalese and the Muslims
population who lived in the Northern area for centuries were either
killed or chased away completely by the LTTE Tamil Tiger terrorists.
At the moment, not a single Sinhalese or Muslim is living in Jaffna,
but, many thousands of Tamils are living in Colombo in peace with
the other communities. Based on 2001 census, the Tamil population in
Colombo district is 12.1% (see
2001 census). So, who is discriminated ? Tamils or Sinhalese? Do
you need more evidence ?

http://www.apiwenuwenapi.com/
is the official web site of the Api Wenuwen Api fund raising
campaign. The Api Wenuwen Api Fund is a collaboration between the
The Ministry of Defence and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to build
50,000 houses for the serving Tri-Service personnel. The gift of
housing is one of the best and most tangible ways to demonstrate our
gratitude and appreciation. This is the time for all Sri Lankans to
support our brothers and sisters who are committed to bringing peace
to our motherland Sri Lanka. All contributions from the campaign and
fund raising events will be donated to Api Wenuwen Api Housing
Project in Sri Lanka.

Thawalama
Development Foundation

No. 5,
Rajakeeya Mawatha, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka.

The
Thawalama Development Foundation (TDF) was established on 1994
April 25th to support and assist in the implementation of
Project Thawalama approved by the Ministry of Defense on 1994
January 14th. http://thawalama.org

Winning War Against
Terror, Human rights violations and War Crimes - An open
letter to Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the UN, Ms. Navi
Pillay, UN Hign Commissioner of Human Rights , Ms. Radhika
Coomaraswamy, Special representative of the UN SG for
Children in Armed Conflict by Warna Hettiarachchi, Canada (Sinhale
Hot News : 6 July 2010).

British
FM David Milliband is back to his third grade gimmicks against
Sri Lanka. Please look after your back yard without poking your
stinking fingers into Sri Lankan Affairs. Sri Lanka has
had enough of you and your white clan. We do not care you guys
anymore. So, Shut up.

None of
the three vessels carrying Sri Lankan Tamils, which had been
intercepted by the Canadians and Indonesians on high seas during
the past fortnight, originated in Sri Lanka.

Conspiracy
by Arms Manufacturing Western Nations

Western Arms Manufacturers need battlefields
to sell their Arms. An estimated 500,000 individuals dies in
small arms-conflict every year, approximately one death per
minute. It is estimated that yearly, over 1 trillion dollars are
spent on military expenditure worldwide.

Open
Letter to UN Secretary General: Ms. Hillary Clinton’s book
on Rape has Blank pages on Okinawa - by Bandu de Silva, Former
Sri Lankan Ambassador to France, and the Vatican (Asian
Tribune ; 17 Oct 2009).

What is really happening
in Sri Lanka today is that a blood thirsty racist group led by
some misled Tamils called LTTE is terrorizing against the Government
of Sri Lanka and its people irrespective of their ethnicity with an
intention of carving out a separate state. There is no conflict as
such between Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Sri Lanka. In fact,
the majority of the Tamil community lives in peace and harmony among
the Sinhalese population through out the country apart from the
Northern part of Sri Lanka. The entire Sinhalese and the Muslims
population who lived in the Northern area for centuries were either
killed or chased away completely by the LTTE Tamil Tiger terrorists.
At the moment, not a single Sinhalese or Muslim is living in Jaffna,
but, many thousands of Tamils are living in Colombo in peace with
the other communities. Based on 2001 census, the Tamil population in
Colombo district is 12.1% (see
2001 census). So, who is discriminated ? Tamils or Sinhalese? Do
you need more evidence ?

The United States' top intelligence
agency, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) says that the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is the most dangerous and deadly extremist organization in the
world. The official website of FBI in its tops story said that LTTE is far more
dangerous terrorists outfit than al Queda, Hezbullah or even HAMAS.
Read more...